Today’s road freight vehicles are mainly fuelled with diesel and use a significant fraction of the global fossil oil production. Without further policy efforts, oil demand from road freight vehicles is projected to increase considerably. Several measures to lower greenhous gas (GHG) emissions seem mainly viable for medium size distribution trucks, such as the use of renewable fuels, electrification and the use of fuel cells. However, for heavy duty long-haul trucks the possible alternatives to diesel are less clear.
Ingemar Magnusson, Volvo Group Trucks Technology, has been the manager of a project that adresses the challenge of switching to new fuels for heavy duty long-haul trucks. By examining available life cycle assessment (LCA) studies on road freight vehicles, the project has tried to conclude what the options are.
The full report, written in cooperation with participants from Chalmers, is available here.