During the Perkins press conference at The Design Studio in London, emphasis on alternate fuels and sustainability were very much front of mind during the presentation. In addition to making their products more sustainable for the future, they also are embarking on collaborations with other companies and universities to find new methods with hybrid engine solutions that utilize alternate fuels.
To that end, Perkins has embarked on Project Coeus to address these challenges for the off-highway industries as well as others.
The importance of alternate fuels, hybrid systems
Project Coeus, which was first announced in 2023, is focused on delivering a power solution with alternative fuels. This is in response to many factors including emissions standards and regulations and also the desire to make engines run longer and better than before.
“What’s changing are the energy vectors. For 100 years, it’s been diesel. That hasn’t been something we’ve needed to worry about. That’s starting to change,” said Paul Moore, head of powertrain system integration for Perkins, during a roundtable discussion and Q&A.
While developing alternate fuels and hybrid systems is great, the challenge, Moore said, is smaller OEMs struggle to develop or evolve with the new technologies and this creates barriers.
“These types of OEMs are the ones we’re trying to turn to by making it easier for them to adopt we think they’re going to need,” Moore said.
For the hybrid systems, Moore said versatility is needed because what applies to one country is not true for another. For example, South America is more reliant on ethanol than other areas of the world because of geography and its ubiquity.
Alternative fuels will play a key role in hybrid engines and some are region-specific and must be catered to.Chris Vavra
“What provides the most customer value? We do have significant performance difference,” Moore said. “It’s in how that power is delivered. How can it improve efficiency? Starts to add customer value.”
Moore said these aspects are a major part of Project Coeus. “We have to have the ability to deal with the different fuels.”
The promise of public, private partnerships
Perkins’s partnership involves Equipmake and Loughbrough University. Together, they developed the hybrid system and provided in-depth analysis of the fluid dynamics to help determine what did and didn’t work.
Moore said, “In a year, we’ve gone from a sheet of paper to our first test. We’re looking to get some good data over the next 3-6 months.”
Their achievements to date will be highlighted during bauma 2025 in Munich in April. The program is expected to run another two years.
Ian Foley, CEO at Equipmake, said Project Coeus is “Ideal for us because as a business we develop motor inverters for specific applications.”
Edward Long, a senior lecturer at Loughborough University, said of Project Coeus, “We’re really engaging in something that is going to have a real valuable impact.”
Chris Vavra is editor of OEM Off-Highway.
