A dedicated spark-ignited heavy-duty engine for multiple future fuels

It is generally accepted that for some heavy-duty transport primemover or energy-converter applications, battery-electrification is unlikely to meet the required balance of product attributes. This is particularly the case with the attributes of autonomy (range), mass, package volume and cost. In this regard, chemical fuels still have the advantage despite storage challenges for some. Ricardo expects that heavy-duty commercial vehicles will include combustion engines for some time to come, whilst transitioning from fossil diesel to a variety of renewable bio- and electrofuels such as bio-diesel, HVO, ethanol, methane, methanol and hydrogenMany of these fuels require a spark-ignited (or other positive ignition) combustion system. This will drive changes to the optimal heavy-duty base engine architecture. In this paper, the future fuels that are expected to be most prevalent are discussed, along with efficiency expectations in various vehicle classes. Further, some of the measures recommended to fully optimise a heavy-duty engine for operation on renewable, spark-ignited fuels are presented.