Parallel hybrid electric truck design

Abstract

Automotive industry has been developed since years by beginning of first patent of it. In those years automotive companies has been dealt with different type of issues. One of the biggest challenge is fuel consumption and CO2 emissions for the automobiles. Nowadays CO2 emissions are one of the trend topics in the era. CO2 is harmful for human body besides it creates green gases effect and due to that the average temperature of the planet increases which is called "global warming" in other terms. CO2 emissions have a direct relation with fuel consumption of the engine. After reactions in the engine gasoline or diesel create CO2 as a result. To decrease CO2 emissions of the vehicle one of the key element is to decrease fuel consumption. To decrease fuel consumption there are different methods. On of the common solution is hybridization. Hybridization can be done by including two different energy sources into the specific vehicle. In the common sense, modern-day vehicles are equipped with gasoline or diesel engines. The appropriate way to hybridize a gasoline/diesel engine can be done by adding an electrical source to the vehicle. Hybridization has different types and each type has its own advantage and disadvantage. One of the common hybrid electric vehicle type is parallel hybrid electric. In this thesis, a heavy-duty parallel hybrid electric truck has been investigated. The conventional model is selected as an 18t 4x2 heavy-duty commercial vehicle, Mercedes – Benz Actros. It is one of the most sold truck in 2020 Turkey truck market. 18t 4x2 Mercedes-Benz Actros truck is modelled in AVL Cruise system to compute conventional vehicle's fuel consumption. After that, conventional truck is hybridized by electric motor that is coupled to its transmission exit. Model B parallel hybrid truck is computed again on the same VECTO cycles and fuel consumptions and CO2 emission of the vehicles are compared. The last model is selected which is equipped with a downsized engine. Parallel hybrid+downsized, Model C, is computed and compared with other models. All these three models are created in AVL Cruise and simulations are done in the programme. At the end of the results, advantages and disadvantages are noted in the conclusion chapter.