Title:Challenges in Decarbonisation of Road Freight

Abstract:

Long-haul road freight is one of the ‘difficult to decarbonise’ sectors of the economy. Heavy vehicles require large amounts of power for long periods of time, making battery electric technologies challenging. There are two main alternatives to battery-electric vehicles: fuel-cell electric vehicles powered by hydrogen and ‘dynamic charging’ technology: like electric trains, trams or trolley buses. This talk will consider the basic numbers associated with these issues and will show that one option is technically much better than the others. This has significant implications for road infrastructure.

长途道路货运是国民经济中“脱碳难度最大”的领域之一。重型商用车在其长时间、长距离的运输过程中，对车辆的动力供给有着极大需求，这使得纯电池驱动技术在重型商用车上的应用与推广面临严峻挑战。除纯电池驱动路线外，目前针对重型商用车的电动化，还存在两种主流的替代方案：一是以氢气为能源的燃料电池驱动技术；二是“动态充电”技术——其工作原理类似于电力机车和有轨电车的供电方案。本报告将系统分析各类重型商用车电动化技术路线的基础数据及关键参数，并据此推导出最具优势的方案——该结论对于未来道路基础设施的规划与建设具有重要参考价值。

Biography:

David Cebon is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Prof Cebon has authored or co-authored over 300 papers on safety, manoeuvrability, productivity, energy consumption, and environmental impacts of heavy goods vehicles. He has also published research articles on road and bridge damage due to heavy goods vehicles. Prof Cebon has received several awards from the IMechE and IEEE, including the Edwin Walker Prize for Computing and Data Communications, the Crompton-Lanchester Medal, the Thomas Hawksley Gold Medal, the Safety Award for Mechanical Engineering, and recently the ITSS Presidential Prize for Sustainability in Transportation. He was the first non-US recipient of the L. Ray Buckendale Award of the Society of Automotive Engineers for his work on vehicle-road interaction. Prof Cebon is the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight (SRF) and the Research Director of the Cambridge Vehicle Dynamics Consortium (CVDC).