Impact of automated driving systems on road freight transport and electrified propulsion of heavy vehicles

• Published in: Transportation research. Part C, Emerging technologies Vol. 115; p. 102610
• Main Authors: Ghandriz, Toheed, Jacobson, Bengt, Laine, Leo, Hellgren, Jonas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-06-2020
• Subjects: Automated driving systems; Electrified propulsion; Electromobility; Heavy vehicles; Transportation; Automated driving systems; Electromobility; Electrified propulsion; Transportation; Heavy vehicles
• ISSN: 0968-090X; 1879-2359
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trc.2020.102610

•Automated Driving Systems (ADS) affect optimum setup of propulsion system in battery electric heavy vehicles (BEHV).•ADS makes BEHVs profitable in longer travel ranges.•ADS-dedicated BEHVs have lower optimal speeds than vehicles with a human driver.•Driving slow is cheaper in ADS-dedicated BEHVs than in conventional heavy vehicles.•Vehicle-infrastructure optimization reduces the total cost of ownership of BEHVs.
The technological barriers to automated driving systems (ADS) are being quickly overcome to deploy on–road vehicles that do not require a human driver on–board. ADS have opened up possibilities to improve mobility, productivity, logistics planning, and energy consumption. However, further enhancements in productivity and energy consumption are required to reach CO2–reduction goals, owing to increased demands on transportation. In particular, in the freight sector, incorporation of automation with electrification can meet necessities of sustainable transport. However, the profitability of battery electric heavy vehicles (BEHVs) remains a concern. This study found that ADS led to profitability of BEHVs, which remained profitable for increased travel ranges by a factor of four compared to that of BEHVs driven by humans. Up to 20% reduction in the total cost of ownership of BEHVs equipped with ADS could be achieved by optimizing the electric propulsion system along with the infrastructure for a given transportation task. In that case, the optimized propulsion system might not be similar to that of a BEHV with a human driver. To obtain the results, the total cost of ownership was minimized numerically for 3072 different transportation scenarios that showed the effects of travel distance, road hilliness, average reference speed, and vehicle size on the incorporated electrification and automation, and compared to that of conventional combustion–powered heavy vehicles.