Daimler Cites Progress on 'Green' Trucks, Buses

By Howard S. Abramson, Editorial Director

This story appears in the Nov. 19 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe.

STUTTGART, Germany – The world’s largest commercial vehicle maker last week said it is moving ahead with a host of projects to develop less-polluting trucks and buses, but warned that governments and oil companies must cooperate if these products are to become commercially viable.

“The only effective environmental protection is affordable environmental protection,” Andreas Renschler, who runs Daimler Trucks, told about 200 reporters gathered here. To overcome the many obstacles facing new emission technologies, he said, “Governments, the petroleum industry and the automotive industry must pull together on a worldwide scale.”

Renschler said his company, a unit of Daimler AG, already had 3,000 commercial vehicles employing alternative drive systems and fuels in use by customers around the world, and would be rolling out several new projects soon, as well as 500 more hybrid buses for New York City.

He announced that Daimler’s U.S. division, Freightliner, would build 1,500 medium-duty diesel-electric hybrid bucket trucks over the next three years. Renschler said the trucks — typically used by utility companies — would “consume 20% to 40% less fuel than a comparable diesel model.”

The trucks, with more than 250 horsepower, will feature electric power for their hoists, allowing the operator to turn off the truck’s diesel engine when operating the lifting bucket, which accounts for some of the fuel savings.

Daimler hosted the press gathering here, which it labeled “Shaping Future Transportation,” on Nov. 12 to highlight its environmental efforts. Competitor Volvo AB of Sweden recently held a similar event in Brussels (10-1, p. 1).

Renschler said that, despite the historic gains the industry has made in improving environmental performance in recent years, much more remained to do.

“We expect the global commercial market to grow by approximately 50% over the next 10 years,” he said, as economic growth rises in Brazil, Russia, India and China. “Having fewer trucks on the road is not the answer” to a cleaner environment.

He said, “Our goal at Daimler is to make the vision of the ‘zero-emission commercial vehicle’ a reality. . . . We’re not looking to replace diesel fuel and gasoline; instead, we seek to outperform them.”

The first step, Renschler said, is to achieve clean combustion systems through use of alternative fuels, “including everything from natural gas to biodiesel and hydrogen.” These fuels must then be employed by new drive technologies such as hybrids, fuel cells and cleaner-burning diesel systems, such as selective catalytic reduction.

Daimler already has deployed 1,500 trucks and buses in Europe that use compressed natural gas for power, Renschler said. CNG produces 90% fewer particulates, 50% less noise and 10% fewer carbon dioxide emissions than diesel engines.

The company also is working on second-generation biodiesel fuels, which are made from waste plants rather than feed grains, and on a biofuel that is mixed with hydrogen.

Daimler sees hybrid drives as only an interim step, Renschler said. The company is focusing on “an even better alternative: the fuel cell.”

Rather than burning hydrogen in a fuel cell to provide motive power, he said, the company is working on a drive system where fuel cells power electric motors that actually run the vehicles. Renschler said Daimler is pursuing this course because “hydrogen combustion engines are just plain lousy.”

“The most important thing we’ve learned is that fuel-cell technology does, in fact, make it possible to build zero-emission vehicles: without particulates, without nitrogen oxides, without CO2, and it can do all this without creating any significant noise pollution and with an unrivaled level of efficiency,” Renschler said.

Stumbling blocks remain, however, including the need to produce hydrogen from renewable sources, creation of a network of hydrogen filling stations, enough demand to bring production prices down and legislation to ensure the acceptance of the technology.

“It’s important to remember that economies of scale are a key factor for success. . . . After all, what good is the most environmentally friendly hybrid truck if no one can afford it?” Renschler said.

He said the drive for cleaner heavy-duty engines has been slowed by the lack of uniformity in emission standards around the world and the lack of uniformity of fuel standards.

He called for more cooperation between governments, including support for financial incentives in the near term to encourage fleets to invest in the new technologies, and he urged the fuel companies to join with the truck and engine makers to improve environmental performance.

Daimler Trucks produced about 516,000 commercial vehicles around the world in 2006 and reported revenue of about 31.79 billion euros (about $46 billion at current exchange rates).