Greenhouse gas emission benefits of vehicle lightweighting: Monte Carlo probabalistic analysis of the multi material lightweight vehicle glider

Vehicle lightweighting reduces fuel cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but may increase vehicle cycle (production) GHG emissions because of the GHG intensity of lightweight material production. Life cycle GHG emissions are estimated and sensitivity and Monte Carlo analyses conducted to systematically examine the variables that affect the impact of lightweighting on life cycle GHG emissions. The study uses two real world gliders (vehicles without powertrain or battery) to provide a realistic basis for the analysis. The conventional and lightweight gliders are based on the Ford Fusion and Multi Material Lightweight Vehicle, respectively. These gliders were modelled with internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV), hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), and battery electric vehicle (BEV) powertrains. The probability that using the lightweight glider in place of the conventional (steel-intensive) glider reduces life cycle GHG emissions are: ICEV, 100%; HEV, 100%, and BEV, 74%.The extent to which life cycle GHG emissions are reduced depends on the powertrain, which affects fuel cycle GHG emissions. Lightweighting an ICEV results in greater base case GHG emissions mitigation (10 t CO₂eq.) than lightweighting a more efficient HEV (6 t CO₂eq.). BEV lightweighting can result in higher or lower GHG mitigation than gasoline vehicles, depending largely on the source of electricity.     

Heavy goods vehicle taxation in the United Kingdom

Heavy goods vehicle taxation has been the subject of considerable debate in U.K. over the past 15 years. There have been a number of attempts to relate the taxes paid by heavy goods vehicles to the public costs incurred to provide road track for their use. This paper reviews critically the position taken in the last public account of allocation procedures and also outlines recent modifications to the approach. It is suggested that the allocation of public costs is sensitive to some of the assumptions made and that this may result in an over-estimation of the costs associated with road haulage activities. A number of comparative calculations are made using data from both 1975/76 and more recent years to examine this hypothesis.     

Lightweighting shipping containers: Life cycle impacts on multimodal freight transportation

Freight transportation by truck, train, and ship accounts for 5% of the United States’ annual energy consumption (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2017a). Much of this freight is transported in shipping containers. Lightweighting containers is an unexplored strategy to decrease energy and GHG emissions. We evaluate life cycle fuel savings and environmental performance of lightweighting scenarios applied to a forty-foot (12.2 meters) container transported by ship, train, and truck. Use phase burdens for both conventional and lightweighted containers (steel reduction, substitution with aluminum, or substitution with high tensile steel) were compared to life cycle burdens. The study scope ranged from the transportation of one container 100 km to the lifetime movement of the global container fleet on ships. Case studies demonstrated the impact of lightweighting on typical multimodal freight deliveries to the United States. GREET 1 and 2 (Argonne National Laboratory, 2016a,b) were used to estimate the total fuel cycle burdens associated with use phase fuel consumption. Fuel consumption was determined using modal Fuel Reduction Values (FRV), which relate mass reduction to fuel reduction. A lifetime reduction of 21% in the fuel required to transport a container, and 1.4% in the total fuel required to move the vehicles, cargo, and containers can be achieved. It was determined that a 10% reduction in mass of the system will result in a fuel reduction ranging from 2% to 8.4%, depending on the mode. Globally, container lightweighting can reduce energy demand by 3.6 EJ and GHG emissions by 300 million tonnes CO₂e over a 15-year lifetime.     

A proof of the relationship between optimal vehicle size,haulage length and the structure of distance-transport costs

This paper deals with two interrelated questions, namely the optimum size of a vehicle or vessel, and the structure of transport costs with respect to haulage distance. The relationship between these two questions has not been coherently dealt with previously in the literature, and the heuristic attempts at doing so have lead to both theoretical and empirical anomalies. This paper adopts an inventory optimisation approach in order to show that both of these questions can be treated in a unified manner and this allows us to show, first, that under very general conditions the optimum size of a ship increases with the haulage distance and haulage weight, and second, that the observed structure of transport costs with respect to the haulage distance and quantity is itself a result of this optimisation problem.     

Safety outcomes of internationalization of domestic road haulage: a review of the literature

Abstract

The European Union (EU) promotes gradual lifting of restrictions on foreign hauliers involved in domestic road transport of goods (cabotage), and a major deregulation was scheduled in 2014. Due to complaints from several member states facing competition from new EU-countries with lower labour costs, this process was postponed until 2015. An important aspect related to such a deregulatory reform includes potential consequences for transport safety and accident risk factors. The main aims of the current paper are therefore to examine the potential transport safety outcomes of increasing internationalization of domestic road haulage, and to examine potential accident risk factors of foreign hauliers. This is done by reviewing the research literature. This paper shows that the heavy goods vehicle (HGV) accident risk varies with a factor of up to 10 in European countries, and that the accident risk of foreign HGVs is approximately two times higher than that of domestic HGVs in the studied European countries. The paper points to several risk factors and concludes that better data on accident risk and risk factors must be gathered in order to enable European authorities to correctly analyse and respond to this important traffic safety challenge.     

Effect of mass on multimodal fuel consumption in moving people and freight in the U.S.

The United States transportation sector consumes 5 billion barrels of petroleum annually to move people and freight around the country by car, truck, train, ship and aircraft, emitting significant greenhouse gases in the process. Making the transportation system more sustainable by reducing these emissions and increasing the efficiency of this multimodal system can be achieved through several vehicle-centric strategies. We focus here on one of these strategies – reducing vehicle mass – and on collecting and developing a set of physics-based expressions to describe the effect of vehicle mass reduction on fuel consumption across transportation modes in the U.S. These expressions allow analysts to estimate fuel savings resulting from vehicle mass reductions (termed fuel reduction value, FRV), across modes, without resorting to specialized software or extensive modeling efforts, and to evaluate greenhouse gas emission and cost implications of these fuel savings. We describe how FRV differs from fuel intensity (FI) and how to properly use both of these metrics, and we provide a method to adjust FI based on mass changes and FRV. Based on this work, we estimate that a 10% vehicle mass reduction (assuming constant payload mass) results in a 2% improvement in fuel consumption for trains and light, medium, and heavy trucks, 4% for buses, and 7% for aircraft. When a 10% vehicle mass reduction is offset by an increase in an equivalent mass of payload, fuel intensity (fuel used per unit mass of payload) increases from 6% to 23%, with the largest increase being for aircraft.     

Meeting an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transportation by 2050: A case study in California

This paper investigates how California may reduce transportation greenhouse gas emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 (i.e., 80in50). A Kaya framework that decomposes greenhouse gas emissions into the product of population, transport intensity, energy intensity, and carbon intensity is used to analyze emissions and mitigation options. Each transportation subsector, including light-duty, heavy-duty, aviation, rail, marine, agriculture, and off-road vehicles, is analyzed to identify specific mitigation options and understand its potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Scenario analysis shows that, while California’s 2050 target is ambitious, it can be achieved in transport if a concerted effort is made to change travel behavior and the vehicles and fuels that provide mobility. While no individual ‘‘Silver Bullet” strategy exists that can achieve the goals, a portfolio approach that combines strategies could yield success. The 80in50 scenarios show the impacts of advanced vehicle and fuels technologies as well as the role of travel demand reduction, which can significantly reduce energy and resource requirements and the level of technology development needed to meet the target.     

Extracting driving characteristics from heavy goods vehicle tachograph charts

European Union regulations require haulage companies of member states like the UK to keep records of their drivers’ hours of work. All heavy goods vehicles (HGV's) over 7.5 tonnes are fitted with tachographs which record a driver's operating activities (periods of driving, other work and rest). These records are etched onto a laminated chart by various styli, one of which records the vehicle's speed. This paper describes the development and testing of a new technique for extracting individual driving characteristics from the speed trace of an HGV tachograph chart to calculate four parameters: distance travelled, average speed, time travelled and speed variability.

The average speed, time travelled and speed variability were analysed statistically using one‐way analysis of variance tests. Speed variability was found to be particularly useful for identifying differences between individual driver's behaviour. Once differences in behaviours can be identified it may be possible to link certain driving habits to factors such as component wear, accident rates and excessive fuel usage.     

Optimal tank-trailer routing using the ILOG constraint programming – a Taiwan case study

Abstract

This paper investigates the routing of pressurized tank trailers and proposes a scheduling plan which ensures the practical delivery of industrial gases under the objective of reducing transportation costs. Using constraint programming, we solve a combinatorial optimization problem that incorporates both hard and soft constraints for routing and scheduling tank trailers. Hard constraints are resource and safety/regulation constraints, whereas soft constraints are utilization and efficiency constraints. This approach enables tank-trailer routing and scheduling management to consider different combinations of parameters and view the results in ‘real-time.’ The routing and scheduling results based on a case study in Taiwan fulfil the goals of avoiding risks associated with transporting industrial gases, and attaining efficient delivery while conforming to regulations and consistent with good business practice. The results also suggest that significant economies in distribution costs are possible.     

A cost and CO2 comparison of using trains and higher capacity trucks when UK FMCG companies collaborate

Companies working in a collaboration are able to achieve higher vehicle capacity utilisation and reduced empty running, resulting in lower costs and improved sustainability through reduced emissions and congestion. Collaboration produces higher volumes of goods to be moved than individual companies which means that further efficiencies may be possible by relaxing the freight mode constraints and considering rail and higher capacity vehicles. This paper explains how real world data has been used in a model to quantify the economic and environmental benefits in the FMCG sector delivered through collaboration utilising road and rail freight modes. Data for one month was provided by 10 FMCG companies and included freight transport flows between depots and customers, inter depot movements, and supplier collections. Detailed road and rail costs and operating characteristics were obtained and, with the transport flows, applied to a network design model which was used to validate the company data sets. A strategy examining the potential use of alternative higher capacity vehicles and rail for the flows between nine regional consolidation centres showed cost and CO₂ savings. Just under half the inter-regional flows benefited from double deck trailers, longer heavier vehicles for 30% of the flows and rail with different wagon configurations for the rest. In summary there was a 23% reduction in cost with 58% fewer road kilometres and a 46% reduction in CO₂ emissions. The ability to backhaul the same mode of transport between most of the regional centres was one of the strengths of this strategy.     

The impact of transport pricing policy on individual energy consumption: a modeling case study in Kumamoto

To investigate the impact of traffic pricing policies on energy consumption, this study shows a microeconomic quantitative analysis scheme to simulate individual consumption behaviors from a microeconomic viewpoint. Energy consumption is estimated based on individual demand of non‐mobility goods and mobility goods under nine policy scenarios based on strategies of gasoline tax adding and mass transit fare reduction independently or combined. Results show that gasoline tax adding has strong effects on consumption behaviors. Energy consumption reduces mostly because of less consumption of non‐mobility goods and car trips. However, policy of mass transit fare reduction has limited impact on energy saving because consumption of non‐mobility goods and mass transit trips increases, but the number of car trips decline by only a small percentage. Comparing with single‐type policy, policies that combined gasoline tax adding and mass transit fare reduction show less energy consumption. Findings suggest that policies that increase cost of car trips, such as gasoline tax adding, are very helpful to reduce the consumption of non‐mobility goods and car trips, which contribute to less energy consumption. However, reducing cost of mass transit trips suggests limited effect on energy saving. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Combining Intermodal Transport With Electric Vehicles: Towards More Sustainable Solutions

Abstract

This paper analyses the feasibility of incorporating electric or hybrid vehicles in intermodal transport for the transportation of containers in the pre- and post haulage (PPH) operation. In Europe, the intermodal transport market is being strongly supported, as it is seen as one of the keystones of a sustainable mobility system policy. The introduction of environmentally friendly electric/hybrid vehicles for the pre- and post haulage operation would mean a further enhancement leading to a more complete ecological intermodal transport chain. PPH operations are usually no longer than 30 km, and, hence, could possibly be handled by electric or hybrid vehicles.

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) combine electric and other drive systems, such as internal combustion engines, gas turbines and fuel cells. Hybrid electric vehicles merge the zero pollution and high efficiency benefits of electric traction with the high fuel energy density benefits of an energy source or thermal engine. The use of electrically driven vehicles for goods distribution has already been successfully proven in international demonstration projects, such as ELCIDIS. Transport of intermodal units (such as ISO containers), however, requires electric/hybrid heavy-duty goods vehicles, which are not readily available on the market, but for which the technology exists.

Different possibilities are assessed as to their technical, financial, organizational and environmental feasibility and suitability. This analysis is based on a typical mission for pre-and post haulage operations, such as type of trips, distance, frequency, urban/suburban, etc.     

Cutting vehicle emissions with regenerative braking

This paper presents an analysis of vehicle regenerative braking systems as a quick and relatively easy means of achieving higher overall fuel efficiency and lowering carbon emissions. The system involves the installation of an additional electric motor/generator in parallel to the vehicle’s internal combustion engine and is used in conjunction with a DCDC converter and ultracapacitor. The system is used to recapture the energy lost in vehicle braking, significantly reducing a vehicle’s overall energy consumption and lowering vehicle emissions. Experimentally-based evidence is collected and compared for two sample vehicles to deduce the potential fuel and emissions saving.     

Accelerating the transformation to a low carbon passenger transport system: The role of car purchase taxes,feebates, road taxes and scrappage incentives in the UK

The transition to a low carbon transport world requires a host of demand and supply policies to be developed and deployed. Pricing and taxation of vehicle ownership plays a major role, as it affects purchasing behavior, overall ownership and use of vehicles. There is a lack in robust assessments of the life cycle energy and environmental effects of a number of key car pricing and taxation instruments, including graded purchase taxes, vehicle excise duties and vehicle scrappage incentives. This paper aims to fill this gap by exploring which type of vehicle taxation accelerates fuel, technology and purchasing behavioral transitions the fastest with (i) most tailpipe and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions savings, (ii) potential revenue neutrality for the Treasury and (iii) no adverse effects on car ownership and use.The UK Transport Carbon Model was developed further and used to assess long term scenarios of low carbon fiscal policies and their effects on transport demand, vehicle stock evolution, life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. The modeling results suggest that policy choice, design and timing can play crucial roles in meeting multiple policy goals. Both CO₂ grading and tightening of CO₂ limits over time are crucial in achieving the transition to low carbon mobility. Of the policy scenarios investigated here the more ambitious and complex car purchase tax and feebate policies are most effective in accelerating low carbon technology uptake, reducing life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and, if designed carefully, can avoid overburdening consumers with ever more taxation whilst ensuring revenue neutrality. Highly graduated road taxes (or VED) can also be successful in reducing emissions; but while they can provide handy revenue streams to governments that could be recycled in accompanying low carbon measures they are likely to face opposition by the driving population and car lobby groups. Scrappage schemes are found to save little carbon and may even increase emissions on a life cycle basis.The main policy implication of this work is that in order to reduce both direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from transport governments should focus on designing incentive schemes with strong up-front price signals that reward ‘low carbon’ and penalize ‘high carbon’. Policy instruments should also be subject to early scrutiny of the longer term impacts on government revenue and pay attention to the need for flanking policies to boost these revenues and maintain the marginal cost of driving.     

A parametric study of the energy demands of car transportation: a case study of two competing commuter routes in the UK

This paper presents a parametric study of the energy demands of car transportation on two competing inter-city commuter routes in the UK for all main categories of automotive vehicles. The commuter routes are between Bristol and Bath: one is fast and flat, the other is relatively hilly and with tighter speed restrictions. Energy demands were found to be closely related to the vehicle mass because almost all external forces on the car are either directly or indirectly influenced by the mass of the vehicle. Exposure to the wind was found to be an important parameter that can significantly affect fuel consumption. Reducing vehicle mass is an important way of improving the performance of the car. However, there are limits to what can be achieved in weight reduction because of safety requirements and the desire of car owners to have many luxury items in modern cars. The official European fuel consumption and emissions test is limited in the extent to which it measures parameters that affect fuel consumption. For example, the test does not measure the frontal area or drag coefficient of the car. The design of the route and traffic operation can have a very significant influence on the efficiency of car transportation and therefore it is necessary to consider route design in whole-life analysis.     

CO2 efficiency in road freight transportation: Status quo, measures and potential

Road freight transport continues to grow in Germany and generates 6% of the country’s CO₂ emissions. In logistics, many decisions influence the energy efficiency of trucks, but causalities are not well understood. Little work has been done on quantifying the potential for further CO₂ reduction and the effect of specific activities, such as introducing computer assisted scheduling systems to trucking firms. A survey was survey out and linked fuel consumption to transport performance parameters in 50 German haulage companies during 2003. Emission efficiency ranged from 0.8 tonne-km to 26 tonne-km for 1 kg CO₂ emissions. The results show potential for improvements given a low level of vehicle usage and load factor levels, scarce use of lightweight vehicle design, poorly selected vehicles and a high proportion of empty runs. IT-based scheduling systems with telematic application for data communication, positioning and navigation show positive effects on efficiency. Fuel use and transport performance was measured before and after the introduction of these systems.     

A model for exploring the relationship between payment structures,fatigue, crash risk,and regulatory response in a heavy-vehicle transport system

Investigations of heavy vehicle crashes have predominantly taken a reductionist view of accident causation. However, there is growing recognition that broader economic factors play a significant role in producing conditions that exacerbate crash risk, especially in the area of fatigue. The aim of this study was to determine whether agent-based modelling (ABM) may be usefully applied to explore the effect of driver payment methods on driver fatigue, crash-risk, and the response of enforcement agencies to major heavy-vehicle crashes. Simulation results showed that manipulation of payment methods within agent-based models can produce similar patterns of behaviour among simulated drivers as that observed in real world studies. Simulated drivers operating under ‘per-km’ and ‘per-trip’ piece rate incentive systems were significantly more likely to drive while fatigued and subsequently incur all associated issues (loss of license, increased crash risk, increased fines) than those paid under ‘flat-rate’ wage conditions. Further, the pattern of enforcement response required under ‘per-km’ and ‘per-trip’ systems was significantly higher in response to greater numbers of major crashes than in flat-rate regimes. With further refinement and collaborative design, ABMs may prove useful in studying the potential effects of economic policy settings within freight or other transport systems ahead of time.     

实行计重收费,促进广西高速公路和谐发展

文章通过目前广西高速公路现行收费模式,提出了实行计重收费,改变车辆由人工判别车型的收费方式,克服空车、重车及超载超限车仍按同一标准收费的弊端,同时对实行计重收费模式应注意的问题提出了相关建议。     

Cost effective future derailment mitigation techniques for rail freight traffic management in Europe

Safe and reliable traffic management is vital for uninterrupted and successful operation of the European rail network, where mixed traffic (i.e. freight and passenger) services are run. Although rail freight derailment is infrequent, its consequences can be severe and may result in different forms of costs, including infrastructure; rolling stock; traffic disruptions; injuries and fatalities. The objective of this research paper is to conduct a cost benefit analysis (CBA) to identify cost effective mitigation techniques for efficient rail freight traffic management in Europe, by 2050. Reviewing previous derailments and studies, eight sets of derailment causes are analysed and, for each of them, sets of mitigation techniques are aimed at for their alleviation. The study finds that the highest cumulative costs of derailment are associated with ‘wheel failure’, while the lowest cumulative cost is identified for ‘excessive track width’. Regarding mitigation techniques, the lowest cumulative benefits are demonstrated for ‘track height’ interventions, whereas ‘wheel failure’ alleviation demonstrates the highest benefits, in value terms (all by 2050). In most cases, the benefit to cost ratio did not exceed 2.6; in two cases (‘track height’ and ‘rail failures’) the ratio remained below 1 – a negative outcome where cost is higher than benefit. The study suggests that the most cost-efficient interventions are those applied to ‘hot axle box and axle rupture’ and ‘spring and suspension failure’.     

Quantifying the transport-related impacts of parental school choice in England

School travel is becoming increasingly car-based and this is leading to many environmental and health implications for children all over the world. One of several reasons for this is that journey to school distances have increased over time. This is a trend that has been reinforced in some countries by the adoption of so-called ‘school choice’ policies, whereby parents can apply on behalf of their child(ren) to attend any school, and not only the school they live closest to. This paper examines the traffic and environmental impacts of the school choice policy in England. It achieves this by analysing School Census data from 2009 from the Department for Education. Multinomial logit modelling and mixed multinomial logit modelling are used to illustrate the current travel behaviour of English children in their journey to school and examine how there can be a significant reduction in vehicle miles travelled, CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption if the ‘school choice’ policy is removed. The model shows that when school choice was replaced by a policy where each child only travelled to their ‘nearest school’ several changes occurred in English school travel. Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) by motorised transport fell by 1 % for car travel and 10 % for bus travel per day. The reduction in vehicle miles travelled could lead to less congestion on the roads during the morning rush hour and less cars driving near school gates. Mode choice changed in the modelled scenario. Car use fell from 32 to 22 %. Bus use fell from 12 to 7 %, whilst NMT saw a rise of 17 %. With more children travelling to school by walking or cycling the current epidemic of childhood obesity could also be reduced through active travel.