Heavy Duty Trucking, October 2018

FUEL SMARTS HDT OCTOBER 2018 44 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM equally rapid charging over short distances Healy explained Obviously we do not want to add a lot of weight with a larger battery so its designed for optimum performance on the rolling hills you find on Interstate highways in states like Pennsylvania Virginia West Virginia etc The ROI varies based on the amount of time spent in the optimum terrain the total number of miles per year and the amount of time the APU is used In most cases with 120000 miles and regular use of the APU the ROI will be between 18 and 24 months when installed on a new truck he said And thats without any government subsidies At this time our system is not included in the available green technology subsidies Healy explained That being said we are actively working with a variety of groups and key partners to establish funding support for our system One of the recently added features is a GPS based predictive cruise control system that reads the road ahead and plans for whatever charging or power assist cycle the terrain might present There were a few moments on our test drive when I thought the system should have helped out a little but Jennifer Moreci the product manager at Hyliion who was riding with me pointed out a larger hill in the distance and said the system was conserving its charge for that push rather than use it on the smaller hill we were climbing at the time Its smart that way The battery also can be used to power an electric HVAC system with a capacity of at least 10 hours of air conditioning and normal hotel loads Healy said the APU feature saves an additional 12 in fuel consumption compared to idling for climate control The in cab display called OPE for On dash Portal Experience displays charge or assist mode as well as the batterys state of charge and the current fuel consumption Walmart Canada commits to alternative power Walmart Canada announced plans to power its fleet using 100 alternative power by 2028 To meet that goal the company plans to acquire an additional 30 Tesla electric Semi trucks building on its original order of 10 trucks in November 2017 This will allow the company to reach an initial milestone to convert 20 of its fleet to electric power by 2022 Natural gas trucks for FXI Food Express Inc Arcadia California added 11 new ultra low emission natural gas trucks to its fleet after Southern California Gas Co helped it land 11 million in grant funding for the new trucks The company has an additional 35 trucks on order the purchase of 46 new trucks represents about 50 of FXIs California fleet Its on a wait list for funding that would be used to buy another nine trucks California slow to adopt near zero emission diesel tech Californias emission rules may have had unintended negative consequences according to the Diesel Technology Forum Its analysis of 2017 Class 3 8 U S vehicles in operation using data from IHS Markit shows the state ranks 43rd out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia on a percentage basis for the adoption of model year 2011 and newer engines which put out less emissions than previous models While California truckers are buying 33 more new diesel powered trucks than in 2016 only 29 of Californias commercial diesel trucks are equipped with the latest generation diesel engines DTF says But nationwide the number is at 36 a 6 percent jump over last year Its pretty clear that Californias truck and bus fleet rules adopted several years ago have disrupted the natural acquisition and replacement cycles of diesel technology delaying investment in new technology vehicles until the 2023 compliance date said Allen Schaeffer executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum The result is that older higher emitting trucks are staying on the road longer in California FUEL IN THE NEWS Renewable diesel plants in the works Ryze Renewables has partnered with Phillips 66 to produce and distribute renewable diesel fuel Ryze is building two renewable diesel production facilities in Nevada which will manufacture high cetane renewable diesel fuel from agricultural oils and animal fats Phillips 66 will supply the plants with feedstock and move the finished product from the plants to customers in West Coast markets Driving the 6x4HE All the electronic wizardry that makes this system so effective is completely invisible to the driver Theres no need to change settings or switch the system on or off so it doesnt distract from the driving task The one exception is switching on the APU function The driver display which Hyliion calls OPE for On dash Portal Experience has a selector for the desired APU run time of one four or 10 hours If 10 hours is selected the system will preference energy storage rather than driving assist in order to build the charge for the pending 10 hour run time Moreci said the system charges remarkably fast and will completely recharge for another 10 hour run on less than an hour of driving time which she said can be accomplished under the Personal Conveyance exemption in hours of service if the driver is on a 34 hour reset The best way to describe the feel of the system when its in assist mode is the truck simply feels lighter You dont feel the typical load on the engine because the electric drive axle is helping with the thrust effort This is more noticeable at low speeds such as while maneuvering around town The system switches to charge mode while braking using the momentum of the truck to turn the generator motor The increased load on the