COnVENienT

Complete Vehicle Energy-saving Technologies for Heavy-Trucks

The CONVENIENT project targets a 30 % reduction of fuel consumption in vehicles for long-distance freight transport by developing an innovative heavy-truck archetype featuring a suite of innovative energy-saving technologies and solutions.

From the customer viewpoint, fuel efficiency is top priority because of its significant impact in terms of cost (in the EU, fuel represents about 30% of the Total Operating Costs for a 40-ton tractor-semitrailer combination).

Responding to this challenge, the objective of CONVENIENT is to achieve complete vehicle energy management by proposing highly innovative solutions for improved efficiency and enhanced integration of components (currently designed independently) which will be developed, integrated and evaluated directly on validation vehicles, including:

  • innovative energy efficient systems, including hybrid transmission, electrified auxiliaries, dual level cooling, parking HVAC
  • energy harvesting devices, like photovoltaic solar roof for truck and semitrailer;
  • advanced active and passive aerodynamics devices for the truck and for the semitrailer:
  • an Holistic Energy Management system at vehicle level;
  • a Predictive Driver Support to maximize the energy saving benefits.
  • a novel Hybrid Kinetic Energy Recovery System for the semitrailer.

The most relevant and novel aspect of CONVENIENT is represented by the holistic approach to on-board energy management, considering the tractor, semi-trailer, driver and the mission as a whole. The CONVENIENT Consortium, which comprises three major EU truck manufacturers, ten Tier 1/2 suppliers, and a network of nine research centers and Universities, representing European excellence in the field of long distance transport R&D, is uniquely well-qualified with respect to the project scope and the highly ambitious target of achieving 30% gains in vehicle efficiency.

Contact

Damian Backes M.Sc.
Manager Research Area
Energy Management and Drivetrains
+49 241 80 25420
Email

Project duration

11/2012 – 10/2015

Project partner

CRF, IVECO, Volvo, DAF, Continental, AVL, ika, TNO, Engineering Center Steyr, Applus, TU/e, TU Delft, SKF, Meritor, Hutchinson, mattei, University of l'Aquila, IAM, Webasto, ZF, Fraunhofer LBF, KTH

Supported by

[Logo: Europäische Union]

Address

Institute for Automotive Engineering
RWTH Aachen University
Steinbachstraße 7
52074 Aachen · Germany

office@ika.rwth-aachen.de
+49 241 80 25600

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