Earlier this month, ERTRAC (the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council) formally delivered its Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), an important element in the effort to cope with challenges posed for sustainable mobility, to an EU commission.

ERTRAC, founded in 2002, comprises more than 60 representatives from the auto industry, road infrastructure, local and national government, research institutes, NGOs, academia and the European Commission. The SRA reflects this multi-stakeholder European consensus in its categorization and prioritization of research topics for the coming years.

One of the goals of the SRA, which covers the activities of the next 15 years, is to help in aligning private research activities—which alone account for approximately €20 billion annually—with those from public organizations to ensure that research in the road transport sector is more consistent, effective and efficient.

The authors of the SRA worked from the forecast presumption of a 32% increase in individual demand for travel by 2020 in the EU-25 (passenger-kilometers), and a need to accommodate a 69% growth in goods transported (tonnes-kilometers). The team divided research topics into the following clusters: Mobility & Transport, Safety & Security, Energy & Environment, Design & Production.

A summary chart of some of the targeted research on energy efficiency and grenhouse gas reduction is to the right. (Click to enlarge.) Selected research targets from the Energy & Environment group include:

• Improvements in vehicle efficiency that deliver as much as a 40% reduction in CO₂ emissions for passenger cars and 10% for heavy duty vehicles for the new vehicle fleet in 2020. The majority of that decrease will stem from decreases in fuel consumption.

• Good vehicle maintenance and driving for fuel efficiency will reduce fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions by at least 10% for cars and 5% for heavy duty vehicles.

• Improvements to the road transport infrastructure, best use of transport modes, information technology systems, higher passenger car occupancy rates and freight loading factors will contribute to further reductions in fuel consumption by 10-20%.

• By 2020, fuel cell vehicles and low carbon / hydrogen fuels will begin contributing to carbon reduction provided sustained research efforts are begun now.

• By 2020, Euro-5 & 6 emissions standard vehicles will be well established in the vehicle fleet. The research target is to achieve these near zero emissions levels at minimum cost while still improving energy consumption and CO₂ emissions.

• Sustainable use of resources and recycling of vehicles and road infrastructure materials will also contribute to the preservation of the environment.

The SRA asserts that the main improvements in energy use and GHG emissions over the next 15 years will come from developments in advanced, efficient Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) and associated advances in fuels (natural gas, synthetics, biofuels). Hybrids and Intelligent Automotive Energy Management Systems will be important associated support technologies.

Although the SRA calls for continued research on hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles, it predicts that no significant contribution will come from these until after 2020.

The report provides a ueful view of the complex interdependencies involved in achieving sustainable mobility. It’s more than just a question of engine technology or hybrids, it involves a long list of other factors...not the least of which is social behavior.