|
In 2009 The New Automotive Innovation and Growth Team (NAIGT) published an industry consensus product roadmap*.
In the short-term, emission reduction targets will largely be met by further developments of existing technologies:
• Vehicle weight reduction and aerodynamic improvement strategies.
• Combustion engine innovations and developments in the treatment of exhaust gases.
• Improvements in conventional fuel quality.
• Development of alternative fuels & flexible fuel vehicles (FFV’s) capable of running on them.
• Mono and bivalent compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles utilising naturally occurring methane gases.
• Stop / start technology with the potential to conserve fuel in coasting and idling situations via the deployment of an electric starter/generator.
• Mild and full hybridisation with the potential to propel vehicles in electric only and assisted modes.
|
The longer term, achievement of automotive sustainability likely relies on the ‘Electrification of Transport’, a term used to describe vehicles which derive some or all of their motive power from the main electrical grid:
• Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) building on the attributes of the hybrid vehicle with batteries that can be recharged from mains power.
• Range extended electric vehicles (REEVs) featuring batteries that can be recharged from mains power and by an auxiliary power unit serving as an on-board generator.
• Full electric vehicles (EVs) representing zero tailpipe emissions and zero ‘well-to-wheel’ emissions when combined with renewable energy sources.
• Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), producing water as the only tailpipe emissions, requiring the development of an efficient hydrogen production and refuelling infrastructure.
|
