Bibendum Challenge
Big trucks debut at michelin's annual conference to promote sustainable mobility.
Trucks - big trucks - made their first appearance at the Bibendum Challenge, held in late September in the San Francisco Bay area. With the participation of commercial vehicles for the first time at the 2003 "sustainable mobility" Challenge, the total number of vehicles showcasing "green" technologies reached 108, making this by far the biggest challenge in the event's five-year history.
The first event was in 1997 and was staged to mark the 100th anniversary of the familiar rotund Bibendum - the Michelin Man - that is the famous trademark of the French company. Since Michelin was an early promoter of motoring events early in Bib's life, it was concluded his 100th anniversary should also be marked by a motoring event. However, where the early days' events were mainly sporting, the Challenge is intended to promote technologies that are environmentally superior, focusing on alternative fuels and powertrains, vehicle noise and economy. Part of the event is closed-circuit challenges to grade the different technologies and their executions. And there is a road rally to ensure prototypes would be capable of covering as many as 200 miles.
In the past, the event has been run in France, Germany and the United States. This year the event returned to the U.S., with the circuit testing at the Infineon Raceway (Sears Point) and a rally around the Sonoma/Napa wine country and then to a final prize-giving and banquet in downtown San Francisco.
Included this year were a number of heavy duty technologies that saw trucks from Freightliner, Isuzu, Volvo and a Peterbilt entered by Cummins-Westport. Eaton chose the event to showcase its hybrid drive and hydraulic regenerative braking technologies. In addition, exhibits in the Technical Center included a number of products and programs with a heavy duty focus or application.
It was Freightliner's second appearance at the Bibendum Challenge. In 2001, the company brought along a Century with fuel-cell auxiliary power, a zero-emissions alternative to engine idling. However, this time the company brought its Safety-Environment-Technology truck with second-generation fuel cell. This is a Century Class with a more powerful fuel cell capable of running the typical "hotel loads" of an over-the-road sleeper equipped tractor. The installation of a 5 kW Ballard fuel cell was very neat and tidy, occupying space along the frame rail behind the left side fuel tank, hidden by the side skirts.
This auxiliary power unit is accompanied by a methanol reformer. This releases hydrogen from the alcohol to be used in the fuel cell to generate electrical output at 42 volts. This is then stored for use at 12V or inverted up to 110V. Ultimately, the goal is to reform diesel fuel, though it's unlikely to be commercialized at least until 2006 - and likely later than that.
Volvo's Technology Truck, which incidentally features a bath/shower in the sleeper, was equipped to run its "hotel loads" from a shorepower hookup - another zero-emissions option. A second VN showed one of the first publicly exhibited installations of Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) exhaust after-treatment that could prove to be one of the technologies to reach the 2007/2010 emissions levels for diesels.
The installation was on a day-cab tractor for Talon Logistics, one of 23 the fleet is running in a development program. It featured a catalyst oxidation chamber and 14-gallon urea tank tucked in behind the right-side step, feeding to a single stack muffler. To gain the space, the VN featured a full-size fuel tank on the left and a short tank on the right - the opposite of the normal setup for a day-cab distribution tractor. As with all the technologies mentioned here, we will return for a fuller discussion in upcoming columns.
The Cummins Westport demonstration truck was a Peterbilt operated by SF Recycling and Disposal and in daily service as a trash transfer hauler. Cummins Westport is a joint venture, based in Westport's British Columbia home, that uses liquid natural gas as an alternative fuel. However, unlike other LNG heavy duty applications, the Cummins Westport is a diesel cycle, where a mixture of diesel fuel (5%) and gas (95%) is injected into the cylinder. Being a true diesel cycle, there is no spark ignition. This particular engine in the Peterbilt is a Cummins ISX-rated 400 hp and 1,450 pounds feet of torque.
Also showcasing alternative fuels was a Freightliner Century Class operated on natural gas by Harris Ranch Feeding Co. This daycab tractor is in regular service, demonstrating the viability of the natural gas fuel. Interestingly, a joint presentation by Goran Varmby of Biogas West of Sweden and John Boesel of WestStart CalStart of California highlighted the contribution Biogas can make in fuel supply and energy security. In Europe, there is a target of substituting the naturally occurring methane gas from landfills, agriculture and wastes for 8% of the total energy, which is from oil today. For a company like Harris Ranch, much of its fuel supply could be gained from the very animal wastes that are currently an expensive disposal problem.
With the exception of the Pete, all the Class 8 trucks featured the Michelin X-One wide, ultra-low profile drive tire. This is the revolutionary tire that replaces the dual pair with a lighter, lower rolling resistance - hence lower fuel consumption alternative. In an exclusive Heavy Duty Trucking interview, Edouard Michelin, grandson of company founder Andre, and president of the Michelin Group, said that the irony of the X-One is that it was Michelin that first introduced and patented the dual pair for commercial vehicles 90 years ago. Now the company was going back to a single replacement. He also said that Michelin will be introducing other revolutionary tire technologies in its quest for sustainable mobility in the future.
Further down the weight scale, Pacific Gas and Electric entered a Freightliner Business Class FL70 service truck in the Class 6-7 Challenge. It featured natural gas fuel for the John Deere 8.1-liter engine that is widely used in school bus alternative fuel programs. And an Isuzu NPR competed in all five available tests for Class 3-5 - acceleration, emissions, energy efficiency, noise and range.
The topic of SCR technology surfaced again in a Q&A portion following a presentation on 2007 by Chris Grundler of the Environmental Protection Agency. Deputy director of the office of transportation and air quality, Grundler said that EPA and the engine manufacturers are on track to meet 2007 with the minimum disruption. Part of the run-up to the next emissions deadline are regular technology reviews, conducted by EPA, as well as EPA's own testing and development conducted at its Ann Arbor, Mich., lab. EPA is known to favor heavy exhaust-gas recirculation (HEGR), though the agency's emissions regulations are "technology neutral." So SCR may prove a viable technology, providing the engine and truck OEMs ensure a suitable infrastructure to make the urea reagent available and ensure engines won't run if there's no urea present, he said.
Diesel made a strong showing at the Bibendum Challenge. Bosch is a co-sponsor along with Michelin and was well supported by a number of European car models featuring Bosch fuel injection technology. In the EPA presentation by Grundler, much was made of the new low-sulfur diesel fuel to be made available in 2006, and it is now being viewed as a clean, "green" fuel for the future. The cars at the Challenge, with their highly sophisticated, high-speed Euro diesels, demonstrated how civilized these engines have become. In fact, half the cars sold in Europe today are diesel powered, many of them being the high-performance sport sedans from makes like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and VW/Audi.
There were many other technologies on display - some of them scalable to big trucks, some not. While hydrogen is to be the energy source for the new era, diesel is likely to remain the fuel of choice for heavy duty, though it may be in an unfamiliar form. In vocational applications, this could take the form of a hybrid, where the diesel engine generates electricity. This can be in addition to the conventional mechanical drivetrain in a parallel hybrid, or using the electric generation and a motor for electric drive in a series hybrid.
Eaton showed its electric hybrid, which is based on a Freightliner FCCC step-van chassis. This is a combination of parallel and series technologies and is the basis of the hybrid evaluation currently under way at FedEx. The plan is to have 20 prototypes running in four metro areas within 12 months. Claims include improved fuel economy of 50% and reductions of 75% in NOx and 90% in particulates.
A second Eaton program revolves around regenerative braking using a hydraulic pump/motor and accumulators that store the hydraulic pressure generated under deceleration/braking. The energy is released upon regaining speed, hence the name Hydraulic Launch Assist (HLA). The technology is scalable from trucks at 10,000 pounds all the way up to full Class 8, and has obvious applications in any stop-start vocation, the most obvious being refuse collection. Using HLA can reduce the fuel bill by 37% and the brake maintenance by half, cutting all kinds of emissions and waste, said new business ventures director Steve Nash at the announcement.
And that was what "sustainable mobility" was all about at the Bibendum Challenge. The heavy duty part was significant, yet a fraction of the total activity, all geared to reduce the worldwide use of oil, to protect the environment and to guarantee the security of energy supplies.
With such a worldwide commitment to finding alternatives to burning non-renewable fossil fuels, our mobility may be assured with the liklihood that Bibendum might make it to his bicentenary celebration, albeit in a hydrogen-based energy economy.
