Speaker
Description
In countries with a large forestry sector, road transportation is responsible for a considerable fraction of territorial carbon dioxide emissions. At the same time, heavy road freight in rural areas is arguably one of the most challenging cases for electrification. In the project TREE: Transition to efficient electrified forestry transport, 12 fully battery electric roundwood and wood chip trucks are studied during 18 months of operation. The feasibility and success of any means of transportation must be evaluated from its role in the logistics system. One component of evaluating the electric trucks of the TREE project is a 1:1 focus study, where each truck was compared to a corresponding diesel truck, with respect to energy use and productivity. We also observed the drivers’ different experiences from the two types of trucks. The trucks were set up to perform as similar transportation missions as possible in a two-day study. On the first day, the trucks worked tightly in pairs to closely replicate the physical conditions (time of day, driving pattern etc.) during loading and driving. On the second day, the trucks carried out the same transportation missions, but the drivers were free to work as best suited the respective truck’s conditions. The comparisons show that, depending on the mission, the electric truck can in some case replace a diesel truck without much adaptation whereas in other cases, it is difficult to match the productivity of the diesel truck. More importantly, the focus study will support the understanding of how electrification might influence forestry transport operations.
| Keywords | electric; timber; chip; truck |
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