STUTTGART, Germany — Daimler Trucks recently launched its ‘Shaping Future Transportation’ initiative at a press conference in the spectacular Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.

Dr. Wolfgang Warnecke, global manager of automotive fuels development for Royal Dutch Shell, opened the affair, which was attended by Today’s Trucking editorial director Rolf Lockwood.

“Transportation continues to be the preserve of oil,” he said, adding that oil supply and use will peak by about 2050. Biofuels are the only viable non-fossil-fuel option in the short term, he added, but “not all biofuels are created equal.”

First-generation biofuels like ethanol and its variations have limited usefulness, Warnecke said, while second-generation fuels like BTL that use whole plants and such waste as wood chips are more promising. The key, he said, as we heard several weeks earlier from Volvo trucks chief Leif Johansson, will be having standards that guarantee users fuel of the right quality.

Lofty Ambitions: This Freightliner M2 hybrid utility truck
was on display at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

“The cost and economics of operating on alternative fuels will be a major challenge,” Warnecke said. “We must find solutions that are ultimately marketable to the commercial vehicle industry.”

Andreas Renschler, head of Daimler Trucks, claimed that with around 1,500 Orion buses, more than 100 Freightliner vehicles, and 200 light trucks and buses by Fuso, Daimler is the world leader in hybrid-drive commercial vehicles.

He went on to say that the global commercial vehicle market will grow by 50 percent over the next 10 years, making the demand for oil — and alternatives — a crucial issue. Daimler is hard at finding solutions, he said, redoubling its efforts especially in the hybrid area.

“Our long-term goal is to make the vision of the zero-emissions commercial vehicle a reality,” he said. “We believe that two factors will play key roles in turning that vision into reality. The first is the achievement of clean combustion through the use of alternative fuels, including everything from natural gas to biodiesel and hydrogen. Secondly, such combustion must be made efficient with the help of modern drive system technologies like BlueTec diesel technology [that’s selective catalytic reduction], hybrid drives, and fuel cells.”

Renschler announced that Freightliner will build 1,500 M2 hybrid diesel/electric trucks over the next three years and will also produce a hybrid Thomas Built school bus. The M2’s hybrid drivetrain is the one developed by Eaton and also used in trucks from several other manufacturers.

Daimler is also investigating alternative fuels. The most promising fuels from renewable resources, the company says, are vegetable oil-derived hydrated fuels (HVOs). Later, they’ll be joined by second-generation biodiesel fuels known as BTL (biomass to liquid). These synthetic fuels made of straw and waste wood are carbon-dioxide neutral, emit 50-percent ­percent fewer particulates than diesel, and contain no sulfur. Happily, they can be used in today’s diesels with no problem, Renschler said.

Beyond that we’ll see a biofuel enriched with hydrogen, called NExBTL. Renschler said it has energy properties much like diesel.

Daimler has launched a three-year test of this fuel in co-operation with courier company DHL, the Stuttgart public transport authority, and the OMV oil company.