The projects will altogether receive approximately 20 million DKK from the Danish Council for Strategic Research (DCSR) and the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (EUDP).
Two new projects, which have received grants for research, development and demonstration from the DCSR’s Programme Commission on Transport and Infrastructure and the EUDP, are to develop more energy efficient transport solutions.
Aalborg University and the company Lithium Balance as well as two more companies have received DKK 11.6 million for the project ACEMU which will promote the electrification of work vehicles by making batteries cheaper and more efficient. The aim is to increase the competitiveness and prevalence of electric vehicles.
The project GREENSHIP – Green Liner Shipping aims at optimizing the utilization of the capacity of container ships. The project which has received a grant of DKK 8.5 million will be undertaken by Denmark’s Technical University in cooperation with the IT-University in Copenhagen and Maersk Line among others. The project will contribute to reducing CO2 emissions from container shipping.
“The program commission – in cooperation with the EUDP – is pleased to be able to fund two transport projects which encompass research, development as well as demonstration. Besides that, they both have a good level of business participation. This creates good opportunities for transforming the research findings into concrete solutions that can contribute to promoting energy efficiency within the transport sector”, says Birte Holst Jørgensen, chair of the programme commission.
The funds for the effort were allocated through a political agreement between the Government and the Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) in connection with the agreement regarding national budget of 2013.
The purpose of the effort is to make the transport sector more energy efficient and climate friendly and at the same time take the societal need for a continued high mobility of people and goods into account as a prerequisite for growth and welfare. The board of the EUDP and the DCSR’s Programme Commission on Transport and Infrastructure received eight applications for a total of 90 million DKK in requested funds.
ACEMU - Advanced Components for Electro Mobility Usage
Danish title: Avancerede komponenter til Elektro Mobilitet
Grant holder: Professor Remus Teodorescu, Aalborg University and CEO Lars Barkler, Lithium Balance A/S
E-mail: ret@et.aau.dk and ba@lithiumbalance.com
Grant: 11.6 million DKK (DSF grant: 7.3 million DKK and EUDP grant: 4.4 million DKK)
Total budget: 15.4 million DKK
Funding period: 2014 - 2017
Research training: 1 PhD
Partners: Aalborg University, LiTHIUM BALANCE, Banke Accessory Drives, Meldgaard Miljø A/S
The project wishes to address a large potential market by developing new power electronic systems for big scale lithium-sulfur batteries which are directed towards the market for electromobility. Electric cars are, however, still too expensive compared to vehicles powered by fossil fuels. The high price of electric cars is to a great extent due to the purchasing of batteries. Furthermore, consumers are reluctant to invest in EV technology because of safety concerns related to lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries and because of the limited range of electric cars – today typically 150 km per charging. The consortium wishes to address issues of space and weight limitations by conducting research in lithium-sulfur batteries (Li-S) which have an up to five times higher theoretically specific energy than traditional lithium-ion batteries. Besides, Li-S batteries are characterized by being much safer. The consortium will also do research in embedded effect electronic systems for the purpose of reducing costs, size and weight. The goal is that Li-S cells with the battery management system (BMS) developed in the project can be tested in the demonstration phase of the project on a work vehicle. The goal is also to put the unit and the technology into perspective through the related business cases with regard to the markets of different stakeholders.
GREENSHIP - Green Liner Shipping
Danish title: GREENSHIP - Green Liner Shipping
Grant holder: Professor David Pisinger, DTU Management Engineering and Head of BI Business Partnering Jan Voetmann, Maersk Line
E-mail: dapi@dtu.dk and Jan.Voetmann@maersk.com
Grant: 8.5 million DKK (DSF grant: 7.5 million DKK and EUDP grant: 1.1 million DKK)
Total budget: 12.5 million DKK
Funding period: 2014 - 2017
Research training: 2 PhDs og 2 postdocs
Partners: DTU Management Engineering, Maersk Line, DTU Transport, IT University, Optivation ApS
International transportation constitutes one of the biggest challenges in limiting CO2 emissions, and due to the international nature, it is very difficult to regulate the CO2 emission of intercontinental trade. Container shipping accounts for a significant part of international transport and container ships depend on fossil fuels because no realistic alternatives exist. The project will investigate how tools for optimizing containerized liner shipping can be used to reduce fuel consumption. Decision support systems for planning a better cargo mix will be developed so that volume and weight limitations of container vessels can be utilized optimally. By utilizing the capacity of ships optimally, the fuel consumption per container is minimized. Furthermore, the project will develop decision support tools for designing shipping networks where more partners share bigger and thus more energy efficient ships. The prototype tools developed though the project will be tested in practice on problems from Maersk Line and the energy reduction will be demonstrated and documented.