Solar cells on trucks for environmental friendly transport

Purpose and goal

One of the largest challenges of today is to reduce CO2 emission from fossil fuels in order to reduce climate effects, and in Sweden a large part of the fossil fuels is used to drive transports. The goal of this project is to develop new systems with modern solar cells on trucks to reduce emission of CO2 and to balance the electricity grid. In the project partners from research, a truck producer, a trailer manufacturer, a solar cell producer, an energy company and a user will collaborate for a new generation trucks where solar energy directly can reduce CO2 emission.

Expected results and effects

In step 1 in the project we have performed calculations and a first test of a few solar panels on a truck for a longer time. The results were very successful and the project will therefore have very large potential for reducing the CO2 from transports significantly. The CO2 emissions could in Europe be reduced by several million tons/year, if a few percent of the trucks use the solution from this project. We will also investigate the possibility to connect this truck to the electricity grid and then we expect that the solar cells and the battery could be used for balancing of the electricity grid.

Planned approach and implementation

The plan for the project is shortly that we during 2021 will construct and build the truck and trailer with solar cells, batteries and the connection to the electricity grid. We will also start to investigate how the connection of the truck to the electricity grid could be used as a possibility for energy storage and energy source. At the same time we will also develop a new generation efficient solar cells specifically customized for trucks. During 2022 we will test the truck and the system in operation, evaluate and prepare for step 3 in the project.

External links

En hemsida för projektet där det finns beskrivning och mål för projektet och vilka som deltar i projektet.