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Comment 3 for Technology and Fuels Assessment Report comments (techfuel-report-ws) - 1st Workshop.


First Name: Patrik
Last Name: Akerman
Email Address: patrik.akerman@siemens.com
Affiliation: Siemens AG

Subject: Comments to TechFuel draft: WTW analysis
Comment:
Ladies and gentlemen,

Concerned that the forecasted growth in road freight (i.e. heavy
duty truck) emissions +64% (CARB Sustainable Freight, p13),

Recognizing the challenge of reducing California’s GHG emissions
(including power generation and transportation): -40% by 2030 and
-80% by 2050 (compared with 1990 baseline),

Sharing the recognition of CARB that it is important to aim for
solutions that satisfy all of the air quality goals in order to
provide the certainty business need for long term planning.  (CARB
Sustainable Freight, p24),

Noting the concerns raised by CARB about insufficient supply of
renewable bio-fuels. (CARB Technology and Fuels Assessment, p17),

Supporting the use of WTW analysis of how to make the most
efficient use of the renewable energy sources available,

Siemens 

submits the following considerations on the options for using
renewable electricity in road freight. The options being: 
1)	Battery on-board storage
2)	Transforming electrical energy into chemical form (e.g.
electrolysis or methanation)
3)	Direct supply to moving truck, i.e. Electric Road Systems (e.g.
catenary hybrid)

1. Batteries. For long haul road freight, the energy demand is
substantial, e.g. with current technology a 40ton truck going 600
miles would need 20tons of battery. This is not practical. Battery
technology is progressing, and although a reduction in weight of a
factor 5-20 would be a huge boon to energy users and society, it is
not being forecast in the coming decades. It therefore seems
imprudent to solely rely on improvements in battery technology to
overcome the challenge caused by road freight GHG emissions. 

2. Power-to-Gas. Converting zero- or low-carbon electricity into
chemical energy is associated with significant energy losses.
Studies in Europe have estimated well-to-wheel efficiency for
hydrogen fuels cells at around 27%, while using methanation to make
renewable natural gas for combustion engines has only around 19%
efficiency. Given that the transport sector is a significant energy
user such inefficiencies will require quite some power generation
capacity. Furthermore, such inefficiencies will impact the cost of
fuel and therefore the economics of operations.

3. Electric Road Systems. When supplying the electricity directly
to the trucks the WTW efficiency is around 76%, which could
translate into operating costs that are 1/3 or even ¼ that of
Power-to-Gas trucks. If the electricity is not fully renewable, but
low-carbon, then that same differential also applies to the GHG
emissions.

Electric Road Systems (ERS) is similar to rail electrification in
that it is aimed at those routes where the high volume of traffic
justifies the investment. Prime candidates for ERS are those roads
that are intensely used by trucks, such as connections between
ports and rail yards. Looking further into the future there are
also larger trucking corridors that could benefit from ERS, such as
the I-5 or Highway 99, identified by US DOT as the two largest road
freight corridors in California with ADT above 10.000 in 2007 and
significantly more in the coming decades.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) analyzed how catenary hybrid
technology could impact road freight and found that in countries
such as France a half of all truck transport (ton-km) occur on just
2.5% of the roads. IEA also found that including catenary hybrids
in their scenario reduced both CO2 emissions (due to replacing
diesel) and reduced energy demand (due to replacing hydrogen, which
was previously the only consideration). California could also
benefit from a similar scenario. 

Best regards
Patrik Akerman
Siemens AG

Sources: 
1.	Zoerner, T. (25. 03 2013). Entwicklung der Netzverluste in
Deutschland . Accessible online on May  05 2014 at
https://www.proteus-solutions.de/~Unternehmen/News-PermaLink:tM.F04!sM.NI41!Article.955326.asp
2.	BMUB. (2014). Erneuerbar mobil. Berlin: BMUB.
3.	Hessisches Ministerium für Umwelt, Energie, Landwirtschaft und
Verbraucherschutz.
(November 2013). H2BZ. Accessible online on May 3 2014 at
http://www.h2bzhessen.
de/mm/Wind-Wasserstoff_geschuetzt.pdf 
4.	IVECO. (18. 01 2010). Stralis-CNG. Accessible online on May 3
2014 at
http://lehrerfortbildungbw.de/bs/berufsbezogen/fahrzeugtechnik/material/2009_02_sympnutzfzg/doc/iveco/STRALIS-CNG_ES_2010-01-18_deutsch.pdf
5.      California Air Resources Board - Sustainable Freight,
pathways to zero and near-zero emissions. April 2015 
6.	IEA (International Energy Agency) (2014): Energy Technology
Perspectives 2014, OECD/IEA, Paris. ISBN 9789264208001.

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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2015-05-07 07:04:31



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