HiVE4HD - High Voltage E-powertrain for Heavy Duty Road Freight

A clear path toward decarbonization of the heavy-duty freight sector has been elusive, despite interest in deploying advanced technologies in such vehicles for many reasons, including climate change, energy diversification and local air quality. Barriers to the growth of electric heavy-duty commercial freight trucks are, for example, limited technology availability, limited economies of scale, long-distance travel requirements, payload mass and volume constraints, and a lack of recharging infrastructure.

The HiVE4HD project will make electric heavy-duty freight vehicles more efficient by developing high-voltage powertrain concepts, thus increasing the uptake of such vehicles. The primary objective of the project is to assess the feasibility of high voltage (HV) electrified powertrain concepts, including battery, inverter, on-board charger and multi-speed electrical drive unit (EDU).

The concepts will be modular, thus relevant to a wide range of vehicle classes. Furthermore, investigation of HV concepts will allow for a single set of powertrain building blocks to be considered for both catenary electric and battery electric variants with potential for significant cost savings.