ETI seeks partners to develop gearbox & engine air charging systems to increase HDV efficiency

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) is seeking partners - major companies, academics and SMEs to help develop a new type of gearbox and engine air charging system for use in heavy duty vehicles (HDV).

The ETI has issued two Request for Proposals (RfP). The first RfP is looking to develop a new type of gearbox - known as Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). Successful proposals will be required to meet the needs of a wide range of on and off highway vehicles and machines, whilst delivering a breakthrough in transmission efficiency.

The second RfP is looking at developing an engine air system, which can, but not exclusively include turbo charging or supercharging systems. This is to design an air charging system that can provide efficiency benefits across both the HDV land and marine fleets.

CVT’s allow land based vehicle designers to install smaller and slower revving (and hence more efficient) engines whilst maintaining the same acceleration rate as current vehicles.  The ETI estimates that a 5% fuel economy gain across the land HDV fleet is possible with such technology.

A high performance engine air system is also required to allow smaller and slower engines to be fitted to vehicles, machines and vessels.  It is expected that such technology could reduce the fuel consumption of the average HDV by up to 2.5%.

David Butler, Project Manager – HDV at the ETI, said: “Energy efficiency is a big challenge facing the UK. Our modelling work points to efficiency in transport and in the HDV sector as an area that can make a meaningful difference in helping to reduce carbon emissions. These latest projects will build on the existing work we have already undertaken on HDVs to improve the efficiency of both land and marine fleet.”

The developments from the CVT project will be later fitted to the land-based demonstrator vehicle and the developments from the engine air system project will be fitted to both the land-based and marine vessel demonstrators. These will verify that the predicted benefits translate into real world performance. Both projects are an integral part of the ETI’s transport technology programme designed to increase HDV efficiency.

Launched in 2012 by Business Secretary Vince Cable, the programme is focused on improving systems integration and technology development across the HDV sector, with an aim to increase efficiency in land and marine vehicles by up to 30%. For the purpose of this programme HDVs include marine vessels, HGVs, coaches, buses, tractors, construction machines, quarry machines and mining machines.

Copies of the two requests for proposals are available via this link. The deadline for the notification of an intention to submit a proposal for the CVT project is 24 June. The closing date for submissions is 5 July. Meanwhile, the closing date for an intention to submit a proposal for the engine air system is 8 July. The closing date is 19 July.