Renault Trucks completes its heavy-duty offer with a construction vehicle, whose utility power exceeds its autonomy. Another step for the emerging market to meet European regulations.
From April 22 to 27, 2024 on the occasion of the play Intermat, produced by Renault Trucks France now has its first electric off-road construction vehicle, equipped with a skip and a crane. It has a total capacity of 360 kWh, and its autonomy is it is estimated between 150 and 220 km, depending on the conditions of use. This project is the last in the program research and investment from industrial frAnais engaged in 2021, intends to complete its electric range.
Some definitions
Battery capacity is the total amount of electricity it can deliver after it is fully charged. This is directly related to its autonomy. Power is a measurement of the current flow delivered by the battery. The supercapacitor is a technology that enables much faster charging and discharging than batteries, but with a lower energy capacity. It is used, for example, in Stop n’ego systems for light vehicles, to allow them to move forward on their own without the help of the engine after stopping in a traffic jam or at a red light.
A compromise between power and autonomy
Regardless of whether they are intended for roads or construction sites, all vehicle models driven on French soil must be approved by the authorities administrativewith States. Off-road approval for construction vehicles – specifically requires that the vehicles being tested meet the best technical conditions For work on uneven ground. This includes in particular inborn Good ability to recover. The latter depends on the power of the installed batteries.
But the optimization of the total capacity batteries has the effect of reducing the available power. This is the general basic principle of the battery , remember Charles Pierron, production engineer at Renault Trucks France. OrThe addition of batteries is limited by the place assigned to them in the vehicle. With this limitation, vehicle designers had to find the best compromise between vehicle autonomy and available power. A necessarily unbalanced compromise when we know that the power required for recovery is added to that required by his equipment (dump truck and crane). For this 33-ton vehicle, when fully loaded, the designers estimated that four battery packs with a nominal capacity of 90 kWh supplied for each pack and two motors were sufficient for use.
Renault Trucks France has therefore fulfilled the approval requirements in this respect. As the truck has not yet been purchased and customers are not using it, it was impossible for us to compare this technical data with feedback from the field.
Asked about the potential contribution of this technology to electric construction machinery to improve the power requirement required for recovery and control of the skip and crane, Charles Pierron consider it as possible supplement which can be used with the technology used by Renault Trucks construction trucks. Reserve in speech that can beexplain the progress made in terms of research and development, which is making great progress not on in regards toth subject. Progress that could bring in the near future competitiveness of use between the supercapacitor and the batteries. note that some construction excavators already on the market use this technology to recover the energy resulting from the rotation of the tool and thus optimize the use of batteries.
European Vecto directive, enters into force in 2019. imposes on manufacturers of heavy goods vehicles an average reduction in CO emissions2 vehicles leaving the factory two chances: 2025 (- 15%) and 2030 (- 43%). This regulation supplements Standards Europeanwith against pollution, because European automotive legislation does not consider CO2 as a direct pollutant (nitrous oxide which refusesn.t vehicles, e.g. besides being a greenhouse gas, is toxic in very small doses, unlike CO2which becomes toxic only when inhaled in very large quantities).
We are in a phase where it is increasingly difficult to reduce emissions of harmful substances in the exhaust gases of vehicle heat engines, explains Charles Pierron. That’s why we have to deal with CO emissions in parallel with this work.2. And let me add: The penalties for producers are such that in case of non-achievement of the goals, we cannot afford not to have them.
While these intentions are laudable, they clash with other financial realities on the buyer’s side. Today, even if the difference compared to hydrogen is not comparable, price heavy electric vehicle stay two to three times higher than that of diesel. But the total cost of ownership (the total amount the owner has to pay for the propertyowner during its life cycle) begins, affection evolution of the energy mix Frenchweigh the scale according to the electric one. Ltrucks for collecting household waste For example they have to raise and lower theirs skips – drives a heat engine – constantly during their tour. This is one of the markets that we approached first because it is the fastest return on investment.concludes Charles Pierron.
Article published on May 22, 2024