The classic example is the hybrid rail drive, with trains entering and leaving stations under electric power, then using a combination of diesel engines and electric motors to accelerate, running economically on level track sections under diesel-only, and converting braking energy into battery power. Hybrids really come into their own where you have a highly intermittent load profile, with frequent shifts between low and peak loads. What kind of drive systems are hybrids suited to?
Electrification means we no longer have to design our engines to cover the entire span of requirements, but rather it gives us much more freedom to make our combustion engines more robust, more efficient and more economical. It's also possible to add a small electric motor and battery, and then simplify the engine design. These generating sets have to start up at the drop of a hat, something we do a huge amount of development work to achieve. Just look at our emergency power gensets. When it comes to development, electrification is opening up a whole raft of possibilities we simply haven't had before. Now and in the foreseeable future, the power density of batteries is nowhere near high enough to be able to do without an internal combustion engine.Įxperts are predicting that, thanks to electrification, the best days of the internal combustion engine are still ahead of it. But in the vast majority of cases there will be no getting around the combustion engine, because whereas trains can tap into overhead power lines, combine harvesters and tractors cannot. For example, under our Green & High Tech initiative we have developed – and are in the process of developing – products such as hybrid drives and microgrids. We're going to be supplying more and more of our engines in combination with electrical components. There's no doubt in my mind that the internal combustion engine still has a long future ahead of it – albeit not as the sole source of power, but as part of a system approach. Peter Riegger: It will be a long time before that happens. When is Rolls-Royce's last internal mtu combustion engine going to roll off the production line? Electric motors are the future – a mantra we hear everywhere. Zero emissions would then probably be the final step.
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The main drivers will be “real drive emissions” (compliance with emission limits not only during certification, but in daily operation), along similar lines to the “6D” standard for trucks, and further reductions in NOx figures. What other approaches can be taken to reduce emissions? The regulations for Level 6 are expected to be published by the authorities in 2023. It's currently under discussion with a view to implementation in 2026. The implementation of Stage 5 exhaust emissions is a milestone. When a fault does occur that puts the vehicle out of action, you need a powerful service network to get it back up and running really quickly. Since agricultural vehicles are often used in tight timeframes (harvesting times), minimum downtime is of crucial importance to the customer.
Then comes the installation scenario which is very cramped and varies from vehicle to vehicle. The load requirement profile is higher in continuous operation in agriculture settings than in on-highway applications.Īs an engine manufacturer, where do you see the specific challenges when it comes to agricultural vehicles?Īgriculture requires particularly reliable engines, because the vehicles are exposed to harsh environmental conditions – dust and dirt in particular. In addition, speed-based electronic engine control units are used to optimize fuel consumption. For example, components such as special flywheels, pipes and oil pans have been used. The mtu engines have been developed further by Rolls-Royce in collaboration with Daimler to meet the special requirements made of them.
We use the basic configuration engines from Daimler's large-scale truck series, which have been tested accordingly and are reliable. Our customers demand reliable engines with low fuel consumption and low maintenance costs. Are the requirements made of these engines the same as for other diesel-powered vehicles?Įssentially, the same exhaust emission requirements apply as for all other off-highway engines.