Starship and SuperTruck reveal diesel's staying power

The long-haul truck of tomorrow is powered by diesel today.

Let that sink in a moment.

There’s no question that Shell had options when it came to powering their Starship 2.0 which recently completed a cross-country trip to demonstrate available technologies that best maximize energy efficiency while reducing emissions in a Class 8 truck.

They could have opted for a hybrid drivetrain. In fact, after their first Starship (Shell refers to it now as Starship 1) completed a run across the U.S. in 2018 they made it clear that they were talking with Hyliion, and so it looked as though they were leaning towards a hybrid for Starship 2.0. After all, who doesn’t want to capture energy that would otherwise be wasted?

Diesel's not dead by a long shot. The Department of Energy recently announced 55% brake thermal efficiency in DOE SuperTruck II. The Cummins-equipped Peterbilt features a waste heat recovery system, Department of Energy“The premise there of course is that during either downhill driving or braking events, you’re wasting kinetic energy as heat,” explained Bob Mainwairing, Shell’s technology and innovation manager who leads a global automotive engine and lubricant research team for Starship.

“So if you can capture that energy through a regenerating axle into batteries, then sometime later you can reuse that battery energy to propel the vehicle,” Mainwairing continued.