cover image: Fuelling the Transition - Low-carbon fuel choices for road freight - Hongyu Xiao

Fuelling the Transition - Low-carbon fuel choices for road freight - Hongyu Xiao

24 Apr 2024

We respectfully acknowledge the space our organization is headquartered in as the traditional and ancestral territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy, comprised of the bands Siksika, Piikani, and Kainai, the Îyârhe Nakoda Nations, including the bands of Goodstoney, Chiniki, and Bearspaw, and the Tsuut’ina Dené. [...] To support owners and operators in making sound investment decisions, the Pembina Institute engaged with stakeholders in the clean fuel and medium- and heavy-duty vehicle (MHDV) sectors to analyze the role of clean fuels in the transition away from fossil fuel powered vehicles. [...] The only province that has implemented a policy to increase the volumetric proportion of biofuel in the diesel pool over time is Quebec, where there is a requirement to increase the blend from its current 3% to 10% in 2030, modified by the fuel’s carbon intensity.1 Biofuels made up 3.5% of the diesel pool in Canada in 2021. [...] This is due to the low incremental costs of purchasing an RNG truck, the maturity of RNG technology, and the operational cost savings of RNG fuel over diesel.52 They also found that over the lifetime of the vehicle, the savings realized on trucks that run on RNG instead of diesel fuel offset the higher purchase price. [...] Ease of use In a scenario where hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are commercially viable and the cost of hydrogen fuel is on par with the cost of gasoline and/or diesel, this type of vehicle is best suited for long-haul transport and is preferable to battery- electric given the high energy density of fuel cells and the fast fill characteristics.

Authors

Hongyu Xiao

Related Organizations

Pages
43
Published in
Canada

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