DOE Awards $115.7 Million to Develop ‘SuperTruck’

This story appears in the Jan. 18 print edition of Transport Topics.

The Energy Department last week announced grants totaling more than $187 million for projects to improve the fuel efficiency of heavy-duty trucks and passenger cars, including one aimed at producing a “SuperTruck” that boosts fuel economy by 50% by 2015.

Announcing the grants Jan. 11 at engine maker Cummins Inc.’s Columbus, Ind., technical center, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said they would “demonstrate the potential benefits for longhaul trucks and passenger vehicles, and will play an important role in building a more sustainable transportation system.”

DOE spokeswoman Jen Stutsman said “potential savings associated with more efficient trucks nationally are very significant . . . Medium and heavy trucks account for fully one-fifth of our nation’s oil consumption. If these technologies are fully adopted, they could save 3 million barrels of oil per day by 2030 — or about what we import from the Middle East and Venezuela.”

In the SuperTruck project, DOE awarded $115.7 million in roughly equal grants to ventures led by Cummins, Navistar Inc. and Daimler Trucks North America.

Volvo Trucks North America submitted a proposal but did not get funding, the only major OEM to not receive money.

“Volvo did submit a very strong proposal and we’re disappointed by their decision,” spokesman James McNamara told Transport Topics.

“Peterbilt is an outstanding customer and we have a great relation with Paccar,” John Wall, Cummins’ chief technical officer, told TT. “The project involves developing an entire truck, trailer and engine system, so that we went to Paccar, and they suggested Peterbilt.”

He said that Cummins already has identified how it will reach the 50% increase in fuel-efficiency goal.

Ed Anesi, Navistar’s vice president of advanced technology, said that his company’s projects would aim high to ensure Navistar reached the 50% target.

“We have a high end of 73% increase in fuel efficiency, and our low end is 45%, to make sure we have enough margin to get to 50%,” Anesi told TT.

“These technologies are deliverables,” he said. “It’s a five-year program, but as we develop these technologies, we could possibly go to production immediately. We are not required to wait five years.”

DTNA’s Elmar Boeckenhoff, engineering and technology senior vice president, said the grant “enables us to significantly accelerate our research and development of advanced technologies. It will strengthen our ability to bring ever more-efficient products to the market.”

DOE said its project funding includes more than $100 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and with the private sector contributing equally, the grants will support nearly $375 million in total research, development and demonstration projects across the country.

Companies awarded grants for light-duty vehicle powertrains were Chrysler Group, Cummins, Delphi Automotive Systems, Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Robert Bosch.

Cummins’ Wall said, “We have been working on these technologies for some time . . . we’re not starting from scratch.”

He said Cummins and Peterbilt were prepared to bring any new technology to market as soon as it was ready.

Wall said that one of the most advanced technologies that Cummins was developing was a miniature steam turbine that would be driven by waste heat generated by the engine.

“Only about 40% of a diesel engine’s fuel energy gets to the wheels,” he said. “Half of the rest goes out as heat through the radiator and half through the exhaust, which our system would capture as power.”

“We think this steam turbine, which would only be about an inch or an inch-and-a-half in size, would generate energy mainly for linehaul applications,” Wall said. He added that the steam turbine would supplement the main engine and thereby decrease fuel use.

DOE said that each heavy-duty project had specific goals to reach by 2015:

• Cummins will work with Paccar to develop an efficient and clean diesel engine, advanced waste heat recovery system, an aerodynamic tractor-trailer combination, and fuel cell auxiliary power unit to reduce engine idling.

• DTNA will focus on engine downsizing, electrification of auxiliary systems such as oil and water pumps, waste heat recovery, improved aerodynamics and hybridization.

• Navistar Inc. will work on improved truck and trailer aerodynamics, combustion efficiency, waste heat recovery, hybridization, idle reduction and reduced rolling resistance tires.