The off-highway sector in the field of tension of future power train concepts - Which chances has the internal combustion engine (ICE) in this industry?

Combustion engine with diesel fuel are currently the most convenient power train for Off-Road application thanks to its higher energy density and shorter refueling time. However, the increase in global warming leads to a defined limit of the CO2 budget until 2050 which forces several authorities to establish strict regulations on pollutant and CO2 emissions. These stringent CO2 limitations are challenging for manufacturers, and driving them to develop new technologies and concepts (mainly zero emission power trains) to decarbonize their fleet. The current solution and trends for zero emission technologies are based on Tank-to-wheel approach, which considers only CO2 emission generated by machine operation. A more global approach for evaluation of CO2 emission in the whole chain such as “Well-to-wheel” is more suitable in order to respect the limited CO2 budget by 2050. This paper reviews the current investigations regarding ZE powertrain technologies in Off-Road sector, analyzing of the different type of power train in terms of power and energy density. After that, the duty condition in the Off-Road sectors has been explained, followed by a review of the application of new technologies such as fuel cell, battery electric vehicle and combustion engine in Off-Road sector.