Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2021 - 33

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Q&A
Relieving the turbocharger from
the EGR-management task with
an EGR pump (shown) allows
for higher-efficiency turbos
and the elimination of pumping
losses by equalizing exhaust
and intake pressures.
48V systems can
help to reduce
parasitic loads and
provide some brake
regeneration while
also powering an
electric heater in the
aftertreatment system.
Cylinder deactivation is
another technology that
alleviates the traditional
tradeoff between NOx or
CO2
emissions reduction.
in the aftertreatment system to get it
at the right NOx conversion temperature
faster, clearly a low-NOx play.
When will these emissions technologies
be ready for widespread use? Any
challenges to bringing them to market?
The technologies described are ready to
use. They have been developed and deployed
in other applications. What is
new is the way they are being combined,
applied and controlled. The technical
challenge is in controls, especially
as they require deep integration and
share multiple functions. The other challenge
is engineering costs. These technologies
need to be deployed as the
industry also needs to invest in electrification,
fuel cells and autonomous driving
features. All these are needed, and
they compete for limited resources.
Electrification continues to gain steam,
but the demise of diesel engines does
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
" These [emissions]
technologies need
to be deployed as
the industry also
needs to invest in
electrification, fuel
cells and autonomous
driving features. All
these are needed,
and they compete for
limited resources. "
not appear imminent. Can you provide
your take on this interplay?
The off-road segment and the heavyduty
freight segment are by far the
highest CO2
and NOx emitters - and
also the hardest to electrify, given the
vast amounts of energy they use
(which is why they are high emitters in
the first place). The geographical
spread is an additional infrastructure
challenge. From that perspective, we
expect diesel to be the prime mover
for a long time, a decade or two, in
these segments.
Electrification is already taking off in
more urban applications, and we expect
that to grow quickly. Finally, there is an
interplay between diesel and electrification.
As electrical technologies develop,
some are applicable to hybridizing diesels,
and conversely, the diesel applications
can give some electrical technologies
scale faster than otherwise expected.
Ryan Gehm
August 2021 33
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