EP 4 - Bruno Jouffrey - ePTO Helps Electrification of Commercial Vehicles

The podcast discusses the use of electric power take-off (ePTO) as an alternative to traditional power take-off (PTO) in mobile machinery. Government legislation is pushing for the use of electric power to reduce emissions and pollution. The ePTO system consists of an inverter and an electric motor powered by a battery. It eliminates the need to idle the engine, reducing fuel consumption and pollution. The ePTO can be used in various applications such as construction vehicles, truck loading cranes, and concrete mixers. It improves efficiency, reduces noise pollution, and offers a more environmentally friendly solution. The ePTO can be combined with different types of pumps and other systems for optimal performance. Welcome to the Parker Hannifin podcast. My name is August Wintner and I'm really looking forward to today's conversation with our guest Bruno Gioffre. As a mobile market manager, Bruno is in charge of electric technology for hybrid and electric vehicles throughout Europe for Parker Hannifin. Today we are going to talk about the EPTO, that is an electric power take-off, which can help manufacturers to start the switch to electrified solutions. That's right Bruno? Hello Ruckus, yes indeed. With the increase on phases on reducing emissions, air pollution, resource waste and traffic noise, government legislation is pushing towards the use of electric power to drive ancillaries in mobile machinery. As an example, in Europe from 31st of August 2026, it will no longer be possible to buy or sell any new construction vehicle with a traditional diesel internal combustion engine, also called IC engine. You must also consider the planned sales ban of all vehicles with diesel IC engine by 2035 in the European Union. This is particularly relevant in construction, material handling and refuse collection applications operating in urban areas. Adopting electric power take-off EPTO as an alternative to traditional power take-off from an internal combustion engine brings multiple benefits to the application, the operator and the environment. So it seems there will soon be quite a bit of pressure to go electric. Could you tell us more about the traditional PTO that you are planning to convert to electric? To power ancillary systems, the vehicle must be fitted with an extra mechanical power supply that is a power take-off or PTO. In most cases, the PTO will connect directly to a hydraulic pump. This allows transmission of mechanical force through the hydraulic fluid system to any location around the vehicle where hydraulic motor will convert it back into rotary or linear mechanical force. Historically, the PTO output shaft has been a part of the internal combustion engine or transmission which requires the engine to be at least idling during use. But do you know that an idling engine can produce up to twice as many exhaust emissions as an engine in motion? And needless to say that exhaust emissions contain a range of air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter. This can affect the air quality of the surrounding environment and obviously affect health. Idling vehicles, typically diesel trucks, also contribute to noise pollution, especially when power demand is high and the engine is at a higher speed. Okay, then your proposal is to entirely replace the traditional PTO with an ePTO. But what exactly is an ePTO? The ePTO system consists of an inverter and an electric motor powered by a DC power source, for example a battery. Running auxiliary loads from the battery removes the need to idle the engine which reduces fuel consumption and eliminates air and noise pollution. Similar to a standard PTO, it can be connected to a mechanical transmission system, carbon shaft or gearbox, or most of the time to a hydraulic pump. In fact, there are several solutions to power the ePTO. The first is using a rechargeable battery which has the capacity to run a full working day and to be recharged overnight benefiting from lower energy price or using green energy. Alternatively, the battery can be charged using a generator which is driven by the IC engine. This solution is most suited to stop-start applications such as a refueled truck. Because the battery can be regularly recharged when the truck is moving, its size and weight are reduced which allows a significant battery cost reduction. Now we have heard how batteries can be used in order to power the ePTO in an environmentally friendly way. How about the motors that can be used in an ePTO? There are also different motor types available. Compared to a typical 110 kW 3000 rpm air-cooled induction motor, a comparable water-cooled permanent magnet AC synchronous motor or PMAC like the Parker JVM210-400 136 kW is much more compact being a twentieth of the size and a tenth of the weight. PMAC motors offer high power density and efficiency. The torque density and speed capabilities combined with a voltage-matched inverter provide the speed and torque to achieve maximum performance for electro-hydraulic pumps and auxiliary applications. PMAC efficiency is also far higher than an induction motor in both motor and generator operating modes. This motor technology enables the use of a much smaller and cheaper battery. The variable speed system with high efficiency even at low speeds is perfect for frequent on-off duty cycles. So would you say switching to ePTO is the most future-proof solution? Yes, indeed. To completely convince you, I should add that the reasons for these developments are clear. The ePTO makes the vehicle environmentally friendly and is the first step towards hybrid and all-electric powertrains. Decoupling the auxiliary functions from the traction allows independence from the speed of the diesel engine, ensuring work is carried out at the most efficient speeds. An added benefit is that the diesel engine can be significantly smaller, saving fuel consumption because it no longer has to power the PTO being replaced by the ePTO. Reduced noise at work site improves safety by enabling better communication and reducing the risk of hearing damage. Residents near construction sites prefer the quieter operations of the neighborhood too. How does the ePTO work? As stated previously, power demands on the ePTO can differ depending on the application. To give an example, let's first have a look at a refuse track. It has a unique dynamic profile because of frequent bin-loading. The complex hydraulic circuits make different demands on the PTO in three cycles. The first cycle is opening the door, lowering of the bin-loading system, bin-loading and door-closing. The next cycle is compaction of the container. Then, the truck drives to the next bin and this cycle is repeated. Both cycles are repeated until no more compactions of the container are possible. The third cycle is driving to the recycling depot or landfill and dumping the load. That's pretty much the same typical operation everywhere. So, depending on the way the vehicle is used, the ePTO can work only with a battery if the battery is large enough to work all day long or with an auxiliary generator to recharge it. In this case, the energy from frequent braking is used taking part of the kinetic energy through the generator to recharge the battery. As the engine is only used in driving mode, the collecting process is much quieter and emission-free. The noise level for residents is reduced and the working conditions for the operators are improved. Low noise also enables the refuse track to work longer hours in residential areas, improving its profitability. Bruno, this example sounds just great. Do you have another example where ePTO can be used? For sure, we could talk about truck loading cranes. These are mounted with a hydraulic hoist lifting heavy materials on and off the flatbed. The load duty cycle contains two movements, lifting materials onto the vehicle and driving to destination and then unloading the materials. For this application, the dynamics and energy usage are relatively short. When loading and unloading, the engine can be switched off using a battery-driven ePTO. This gives this advantage of being able to work indoors, such as in a warehouse, since there is no idling engine to emit noxious fumes. Lucas, would you please let me give a third example? Well, you have described two very interesting examples, Bruno. Maybe a very last one to finish with. More demanding is a concrete mixer, which requires continuous and relatively high torque from the ePTO to mix the concrete even while driving. The three cycles are the initial mixing of the concrete, then driving to the construction site and finally pumping the mixture out. To rotate the concrete mixture drum, direct mechanical connection between the gearbox and the ePTO totally removes the need for traditional hydraulic circuit, including hydraulic pump and motor. This improves efficiency and reliability and reduces maintenance requirements. At the same time, the noise level for residence is reduced and the working conditions of the operating personnel are improved and the truck can be used for longer periods of time. Again, the concrete mixer can be operated when the engine is switched off using the battery-powered ePTO. In any case, the battery can be recharged with an external charger or through regenerative braking when the truck is moving. That's interesting, Bruno. I guess that the conclusion would be for those who haven't done so yet, to contact you and discuss the possibility to switch to electric. Exactly! While all-electric is not easy to implement on large mobile machines, the electrification of auxiliary tasks is profitable while reducing or eliminating idling time. The ePTO is usually combined with a hydraulic pump to become an electro-hydraulic pump EHP, which can be optimized through the pump technology choice. You know that Parker can propose different types of pumps such as gear pump, vane pump and piston pump to name a few. To go even further, it can be combined with other systems such as the Parker ICANN controller. All of these bring a revolution in efficiency, safety and ease of use for mobile machinery. Thanks a lot, Bruno, and I also wish to thank you, our listeners, for your interest in the latest Parker electric power takeoff technology. We hope you join us soon again for the next Parker podcast.