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increasing the usability of a particular fuel
or a particular technology. The whole of
the value chain needs to be made more
efficient and measures need to be taken
in all areas, including renewable energy,
making vehicles more efficient and making
movements more efficient,” says Magnus
Hoglund, director of Sustainable Transport,
Scania.
Scania has been researching autonomous
vehicles for more than 10 years. While the
vehicles that Scania sells today already
have a high degree of “self-driving” in the
form of systems that regulate everything
from speed to gearshifting strategies,
these are, of course, still dependent on
active supervision by the driver. “Scania
doesn’t expect driverless vehicles to be a
common sight on public roads within the
next decade, but vehicles with a higher
degree of driver assistance and automated
systems are anticipated,” says Gunnar
Tornmalm, head of Predevelopment and
Systems Development, Scania.
MAN’s eMobility theme
MAN Truck and Bus also used IAA 2016
to showcase its electric TGS semitrailer
tractor, the eTruck, alongside with its
electrically-powered city bus and various
charging infrastructure concepts, as part
of its eMobility theme at the show.
The 18 t eTruck is an electrically-powered
semitrailer tractor for applications in
night-shift deliveries to city centre
locations. It is based on a TGS 4x2 BLS-TS
semitrailer tractor with an 18 t permissible
total weight. The concept vehicle, which
is optimised for operation with a city
semitrailer with steerable single axle,
fulfils the main demands being placed
on future delivery vehicles for city centre
applications, namely that they must have a
high load volume and low unladen weight,
be emission-free when on the move and at
the same time have good manoeuvrability.
Driving the MAN City Truck concept
vehicle is a 250 kW electric motor which
delivers 2 700 Nm of torque. Auxiliary
units, such as power steering, air
compressor and air-conditioning system,
are electrically operated and controlled
via the energy management system to
ensure energy savings. The braking energy
recovery system converts the kinetic
energy of the vehicle into electrical energy
during acceleration phases, and uses the
energy for recharging the battery.
The energy of the truck is provided by
three 35,3 kWh high-performance lithium-
ion batteries which are arranged under the
driver’s cab above the front axle, where
most standard vehicles have the diesel
engine. Depending on use, the battery
capacity permits a daily range of between
50 and 150 km. The batteries are normally
charged overnight. The concept vehicle
also has the technical infrastructure for
the installation of up to four additional
batteries, each with a capacity of
35,5 kWh.
The eTruck concept is said to represent
just one aspect of MAN Truck & Bus’s
eMobility strategy and offers a glimpse
of the city centre transport solutions
which are due to be part of MAN’s product
range as of 2021. As part of the eMobility
Roadmap, MAN is planning to unveil a pre-
production bus version of a battery-electric
vehicle by 2018. Series production of a
100% electrically-powered city bus will
commence before 2020.
b
Scania doesn’t expect
driverless vehicles to
be a common sight on
public roads within
the next decade,
but vehicles with
a higher degree of
driver assistance and
automated systems are
anticipated.
Automatic driving
systems currently being
investigated at Scania
feature functions that
help drivers drive safer
and free them up for
other tasks while in
traffic jams.
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“Scania doesn’t expect
driverless vehicles to be
a common sight on public
roads within the next
decade, but vehicles with
a higher degree of driver
assistance and automated
systems are anticipated.”
TRANSPORT
CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS
DECEMBER 2016
15