"LiVe": Unique E-Truck Prototype Completes First Test Drive
The chair of "Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components" (PEM) of RWTH Aachen University has commissioned Europe's first prototype of an all-electric truck with an overhead current collector (pantograph). The vehicle is being developed in the "LiVe" research project funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment together with the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) of RWTH Aachen University and the Japanese vehicle manufacturer ISUZU.
"Heavy trucks are responsible for a significant share of today's CO2 emissions from the transport sector," says PEM head Professor Achim Kampker: "Due to the high energy demand of such heavy long-haul vehicles, there has been no economical solution for their electrification so far." At around 20 percent of total annual greenhouse gas emissions, the transport and mobility sector is one of Germany's largest emitters. 35 percent of these are generated by freight and goods traffic alone. The "LiVe" project (short for "Reduction of lifecycle costs in electrical distribution traffic") involves the development of several electric trucks whose powertrains can be selected depending on the application and thus optimized economically.
Also planned: E-truck with fuel cell drive
With the vehicle body largely completed, the next step is to complete the pantograph system and put it into operation at the beginning of 2022. The electric truck will then be extensively tested on test routes during a measurement campaign. As part of the research project, which will run until the end of 2022, two more electric trucks with modular powertrains that can be selected depending on the occasion are to be developed – including a hydrogen-powered vehicle with a fuel cell.
Further information is provided here.