e-mobility 1 3
N O . 1 2 0 2 2
considerations include the perfor-mance
to meet the customer’s trans-portation
needs, and total cost of
ownership (TCO). For heavy-duty
and long-haul trucks, TCO is main-ly
driven by energy costs over a life-time
use of 1.5 million kilometers.
In order to deliver cutting edge per-formance
within the limited space
of a European semi-trailer tractor,
with a wheelbase of 3.8 meters, we
plan to install two 155 kW AVL
Fuel Cell Systems and a high power
52 kWh battery. The fuel cells and
battery will support a high voltage
800 V and a low voltage 24 V sys-tem,
providing power to the e-axles
and auxiliary functions such as pow-er
steering, brake air compressor,
HVAC functions and the balance of
plant (BOP) of the fuel cell systems.
We will combine this with an in-telligent
health monitoring strategy
to ensure the fuel cell and battery
systems would continue to perform
at least for the lifetime of the vehi-cle.
This will be further supported
by innovative thermal management
and predictive energy management
concepts to ensure that demands
– particularly transient demands –
placed on all systems fall within ac-ceptable
parameters.
In compliance with EU
legislations, fuel cell,
battery, e-axle, tank
and cooling systems
are integrated into the
chassis without chang-ing
dimensions or the
cabin of the truck.
A MATTER OF INTEGRATION
System architectures for electrified
powertrain systems are obviously
very different to their combustion
counterparts, which presents both
opportunities and challenges for new
configurations. With drive coming
directly from a dual-motor e-axle,
the space normally taken up by the
combustion engine and the transmis-sion
could now be used to accom-modate
fuel cell and battery systems.
Hydrogen tanks will be mount-ed
at the side of the vehicle, while
thermal and electric/electronic (EE)
systems have been optimized to fit
perfectly into the remaining space.
To increase the efficiency of the
thermal system, the air flow un-der
the cabin and through the ra-diators
has been optimized using
CFD methodologies.
While the donor vehicle will under-go
many internal changes in order
to house the new systems, the ve-hicle’s
existing dimensions, ground
clearance, chassis and frontal sur-face
will remain the same in order to
comply with regulations. Addition-ally,
there will be no change to the
cabin interior. When completed this
year, the result will be a vehicle that
looks and performs just like a con-ventional
diesel truck, but which
emits nothing but water vapor.