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Overview

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) has collaborated with the University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside), FEV North America, Inc. (FEV), US Hybrid, and Cummins Westport, Inc. (CWI) (the Project Team) to propose the development and demonstration of a fully integrated and optimized natural gas, plug-in, hybrid-electric Class 8 vehicle to meet the objectives of GFO-17-503. The proposed optimization will be applied to an existing plug-in hybrid Class 8 truck platform with an electric drive system, a 40 kWhr lithium ion battery capacity, and a 236 hp electric drive motor. A parallel hybrid configuration will be used to allow the state-of-the-art, near-zero NOx certified, production, CWI L9N engine (i.e. 8.9L engine, certified below 0.02 g/bhp-hr NOx) to drive the truck during cruising for best efficiency. This will also allow the electric motor to supplement the power providing superior acceleration and energy recovery during regenerative braking. In the hybrid mode, the total power will exceed 500 hp, providing performance exceeding that of 12 liter engines, while dramatically reducing emissions and doubling fuel economy. The truck will be able to operate in electric-only (EV-only) mode for zero emission driving, have plug-in charging capability to maximize EV-only range, and utilize engine start-stop technology to minimize idling. Using results from simulation models developed within the first year of the project, advanced controllers for the engine and electrical systems and optimized electrical components will be designed specifically to optimize vehicle performance and drivability for drayage applications. This will minimize emissions and maximize fuel economy. The project is able to achieve these ambitious goals by leveraging extensive research and equipment from past programs (i.e. ARV-11-029 and PIR-13-014). The Project Team is beginning the project with a state-of-the-art, near-zero NOx engine and an operational heavy-duty hybrid vehicle. Thus, it will allow for major advancements from the project to focus on a whole-system approach to controls design ensuring optimization of the balance between the major sub-systems (i.e. engine, hybrid powertrain, and after-treatment) over specific duty cycles. The deliverables include a demonstration of the optimized Class 8 hybrid-electric truck on a chassis dynamometer at UC Riverside allowing for direct comparison to both traditional diesel and natural gas baseline vehicles. The demonstration will quantify emission and performance improvements validated over all of the critical duty-cycles (i.e. Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach drayage cycles, Air Resources Board (ARB) 4-Mode cycle, and the urban dynamometer driving schedule (UDDS)). The project’s primary goal is to develop an efficient energy management platform that controls engine and hybrid energy sources in meeting vehicle propulsion needs. In order to achieve this, the L9N engine stock engine control unit (ECU) will be replaced with a dSPACE rapid prototype controller to enhance the integration with vehicle hybrid controls. Driver demands such as accelerations and power will be split between hybrid powertrain and engine. Furthermore, the hybrid controller will define the maximum electric power delivery based on the state of the battery. Efficient control of torque and power split management between the two propulsion sources will be the key driving factor in developing the control architecture. Class 8, drayage applications are the focus of this project because they operate in the most environmentally sensitive areas of California, produce a significant portion of NOx and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from transportation in the state, and have potential for high impact because of the extreme usage of each vehicle. This proposed project will not only develop and demonstrate an improved natural gas hybrid-electric vehicle; it will also develop and validate tools to facilitate transfer of the know-how for proper integration and optimization of natural gas engines with electric motors and a variety of vehicle drivetrains. This work will advance the current state-of-the art matching and packaging of the natural gas engine and the electric motor/generator/storage components at lower incremental capital cost, with better fuel economy, improved service and drivability while lowering GHG and criteria pollutants.

Lead Researcher: Dr. Kent Johnson Co-researcher: Dr. Thomas Durbin

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