Project consortium tests Scania hybrid truck with 13 kW solar generator

A semitrailer truck from Swedish manufacturer Scania with combustion engine/electric motor hybrid drive and a solar generator integrated into the outer skin of the trailer has started test operation under real conditions in the fleet of the freight forwarder Ernsts Express in Sweden.
The truck with 560 hp/412 kilowatt (kW) engine power is supported by batteries with a total energy content of 300 kilowatt hours (kWh), of which 100 kW is in the truck and 200 kW in the 18-meter-long trailer. Around 100 square meters of surface area are covered with thin-film solar cells, which provide a total output of 13.2 kW. Under the weather conditions in Sweden, the project consortium, which in addition to Scania and Ernsts Express includes Uppsala University, truck equipment supplier Eksjö Maskin & Truck, roof-integrated PV system provider Midsummer AB and energy supplier Dalakraft, expects an average annual electricity yield of 8,000 kilowatt hours. This would make it possible to drive approximately 5,000 kilometers.
The project has now been running for around three years and includes research work on integrating lightweight solar modules with better efficiencies, in particular with perovskite tandem cells.
© PHOTON