Fuel consumption of a high-capacity transport (HCT) vehicle combination for industrial roundwood hauling: a case study of laden timber truck combinations in Finland

ABSTRACT

In this case study, the fuel consumption of a laden (i.e., the laden portion of the transport cycle) 92-tonne (92 t) high-capacity transport (HCT) timber truck combination was measured, modeled and compared to that of a normal 76 t timber truck combination in Finland. Fuel and CO₂ emission savings, as well as potential resulting cost savings were also calculated for a future scenario where HCT (92 t) timber trucks are commonly utilized instead of normal (76 t) timber trucks for industrial roundwood hauling from wood terminals to mill yards. The data were collected during a long-term follow-up study in 2019 and 2020. The results revealed that the average payload weight was 27% higher for the HCT 92 t timber truck combination than the 76 t truck combination. Fuel consumption (using all two indicators, L 100 km⁻¹ and mL tkm⁻¹) for timber hauling with both laden vehicle combinations was higher in wintertime than summertime. The laden HCT 92 t timber truck combination had 8–11% lower fuel consumption (in mL tkm⁻¹) than the 76 t truck combination over transport distances of 100–300 km. The calculations showed that there is a significant potential to achieve fuel, CO₂ emission and cost savings using HCT vehicle combinations. On the basis of the study, it can be recommended to increase the number of energy-efficient HCT vehicle combinations in timber hauling. Consequently, lower fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions and higher environmental performance of industrial roundwood transport can be achieved.

KEYWORDS:

• Timber trucking
• longer heavier vehicle (LHV)
• road freight transport
• energy efficiency
• greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
• carbon dioxide (CO₂)

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the following for their support with data acquisition: a timber truck entrepreneur who owned both timber truck combinations studied and all timber truck drivers who participated in the follow-up study, as well as Rasmus Rokka from Oy Sisu Auto Ab and Paula Susila, Teppo Salmi and Markus Haapamäki from Stora Enso Forest Finland.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by Stora Enso Forest Finland, the Forest and Bioeconomy Research Community (FOBI RC) of the University of Eastern Finland, and the UNITE “Forest-Human-Machine Interplay” Flagship Programme (337127).