Energy as a Service for clean transportation

Project Information

Energy Trailer

Grant agreement ID: 887106

DOI

10.3030/887106

Project closed

EC signature date 19 November 2019

Start date 1 November 2019

End date 29 February 2020

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

ILDIZ & MEIJERS BUSINESS GROUP BV
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Energy Trailer (Energy as a Service for clean transportation)

Reporting period: 2019-11-01 to 2020-02-29

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Trucks need to become sustainable fast. Heavy-duty vehicles account for 6% of total greenhouse gas emissions in Europe, 22% of road transport CO2 emissions, and more than 40% NOx emissions, and this is expected to grow, with a forecasted total increase of road freight transport of 56% between 2010 and 2050. This environmental cost is translated into economic costs equivalent to 1% of GDP in the EU. There is an urgent need in Europe to accelerate the shift of the heavy-duty road transport towards clean and decarbonised technologies. Moreover, this need is also required in the energy industry.
IM Efficiency is developing the Energy Trailer (Energy Trailer), a technical solution for semi-trailers to fulfil their crucial active role in the complete energy network. Energy Trailer consists of flexible solar panels and regenerative shock absorbers and brakes that enable the own energy production. This energy can be stored in batteries, supplied to the truck while driving and also delivered to the grid. Additionally, by an Energy as a Service platform, the Energy Trailer and its performance can be easily monitored, configured and updated. Energy Trailer provides an unveiled resource to enable grid balancing when more and more renewable energy resources, and energy storage, is required in the energy system. With Energy Trailer, semi-trailers can significantly reduce costs and fossil fuel usage as well as accelerate the adoption of carbon-free road transportation technology.
The overall objective of this project has been to validate the technological, commercial and economic feasibility of Energy Trailer.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The activities carried out in the framework of the project and the corresponding results, related with each one of the objectives has been the following:

* Objective 1. Technological validation. We have done the following activities: review of state of the art of the technology; simulations to analyse the energy performance of the technology; quantification of the cost of the product; calculation of several business cases for the fleet operators and the grid. Technological roadmap for the complete technological development till TRL8.
Result: The activities to complete the technological development has been clearly identified and a project to achieve this goal has been defined.

* Objective 2. Market assessment. We have carried out the following researches: research study about global semi-trailer and truck component market (Market Research Future, forecast till 2027); study of other documents (Roland Berger Market study); personal interviews with relevant CEOs of transport companies and energy traders in NL, BE and ES; assessment of competitors and regulation; validation through potential clients asking for pilots and letters of interest.
Result: The market scope has been extended from NL to global approach, being quantified and trends analysed with relevant documentation as support. Better comprehension of energy industry has been obtained in order to define the business opportunities related to grid balancing services.

*Objective 3. Business model validation by interviews and methodology of business model canvas.
Result: Business model and willingness to pay validated and better comprehension of grid stabilisation new business opportunities. The different stakeholders that interact with the Energy Trailer has been determined considering transport and energy industries. Flows of service, revenue and electricity has been defined.

* Objective 4. Risk assessment. Identification of technological, commercial, regulatory and financial risk and definition of contingency plan.
Result: Risk and contingency plan completed.

*Objective 5. IPR Roadmap definition. Assessment of Freedom to Operate and patentability. Definition of IPR strategy aligned with our commercial strategy and internationalisation roadmap.
Result: The patenting opportunities has been clearly identified and also the strategy to follow.

* Objective 6. Work Plan for the project in EIC Accelerator programme. Once we are aware about the technical and economic feasibility of our project, we have draft a work plan (tasks, Gantt chart, milestones, and budget) to carry out the completion of the technical and commercial development to reach the market.
Result: Work Plan for the next project specified.

*Objective 7. Business plan completed. Finally, we have updated our business plan collecting the learning of SME Instrument Ph1 project and with a vision over the next five years with a financial plan, marketing and commercialisation strategy and SWOT analysis.
Result: We have updated our Business Plan and we have at the moment a clear strategy to accelerate the finalisation of the development of our Energy Trailer from TRL5 to TRL8. Moreover, we have determined our go-to-market strategy at short and long term.
The technical and economic feasibility study carried out in the framework of SME Instrument Ph1 confirms the viability of the Energy Trailer project, and the sustainability of IM Efficiency.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The Energy Trailer solutions goes beyond state of the art since by the moment there are not a solution in the market that integrate all of its functionalities. This is the unique system that incorporates both feasible sources of renewable energy, namely through regenerative braking and the use of solar panels. Moreover, Energy Trailer has several effective uses for the electricity stored in its batteries: charging an truck’s electrical system, powering loads in the trailer, accelerating through the axle, and functioning as a buffer for the grid (G2V2G) as well as a generator of clean electricity. This means the Energy Trailer is adding value to the logistics process at all times and having a large impact on the efficiency. The Energy Trailer has a data connection with the Energy as a Service cloud. This enables to integrate the Energy Trailer into smart grids and the capacity and clean energy of the Energy Trailer can be used to power and stabilize the grid. The cloud platform offers a structured online tool to monitor and analyse the performance of the Energy Trailer, as well as change configurations and track data for a variety of uses. This makes the deployment of sustainable vehicles in the complex transportation sector user-friendly.
By implementing the Energy Trailer, the following benefits are achieved:
- Society & environment: significant decrease of greenhouse gas emissions, accelerated adoption of carbon-free transportation, reduction of noise and fossil fuel usage;
- Grid: capital-intensive recurrent investments in grid updates can be reduced, a more stable, efficient and reliable grid network thanks to the availability of Energy Trailer’s battery storage;
- Fleet owners: lower total cost of ownership of the vehicle, opportunity to transition to completely carbon-free and flexible mode of transportation, the complex web of heavy-duty electric vehicles reduced to a simple, automatic and easy to use application;
- Goods shippers: carbon-free method of transporting goods, ability to realize a revenue stream from using the distribution centre as a grid connection point for Energy Trailer.

IM Efficiency logo

Energy Trailer prototype (Solar On Top)