Nextgen vehicles: Innovative zero emission BEV architectures for regional medium freight haulage (2ZERO)

The action will focus on validation of full electric N2 and/or N3-category vehicle(s), specific regional, suburban and urban freight transport applications seamlessly integrated into fleets.

Proposals are expected to address all the following:

• Validation of zero emissions vehicle(s) in the above mentioned categories demonstrating the capabilities of the proposed architecture in terms of range, payload, charging requirements, access to connected data etc.
• Demonstration of high efficiency powertrains capable of at least 300 km range between recharging events, whilst operating with at their maximum allowed GVW.
• Demonstrate at least 200 km average daily operation in real conditions over a period of at least 6 months, according to different mission profiles and requirements (distribution and delivery of refrigerated payloads optionally included) including end users from across Europe.
• Achievement of total 10% improvement in overall efficiency over current generation electric vehicles of the same categories.
• Demonstration of a delivery load capacity not less than 90% of a current ICE vehicle.
• Define and develop charging infrastructure solution(s) and associated strategies (private, public or public-private) for the different use cases associated to logistics hubs and TEN-T urban nodes, also proposing an analysis of the minimum viable European recharging stations network, possibly also in coordination with projects issuing from 2Zero topic HORIZON-CL5-2021-D5-01-03.
• Development of specific powertrain components might be included where needed, considering synergies with HORIZON-CL5-2021-D5-01-02 where appropriate.
• Assess the capabilities under real operational conditions/use cases and propose strategies to overcome payload and range limitations (e.g. charging strategies while loading/unloading), exploiting all potential operational benefits (e.g. low maintenance and operational cost) as well as innovation enabled by big data acquisition, analysis, and usage to broaden the missions in terms of payload and daily running within the regional scope, and maximizing vehicle productivity (ton km per year) thus demonstrating value for fleet operators and end users.
• Assess the potential impact in terms of emissions reduction considering the potential scale-up opportunities of the addressed use cases, prioritizing higher impact use cases.
• Synergies with shorter range/lower payloads urban and suburban applications in the municipal waste collection or construction activities, can be included.
• Projects should deliver digital twin models of the demonstrator vehicles, such that the impact of the innovations towards the overall objectives of the 2Zero partnership might be determined prior to the completion of the project. Data that is produced as output from a ‘digital twin’ should be FAIR, and deposition in relevant repositories should be encouraged[[Final Report and Action Plan from the European Commission Expert Group on FAIR Data, “TURNING FAIR INTO REALITY” - https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/turning_fair_into_reality_0]].
• Develop and validate tools for zero tailpipe emission vehicles integration in fleets (and mixed fleets) for efficient assignment of tasks (routes, charging strategies, assignments etc.).

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on ‘Towards zero emission road transport’ (2ZERO).