*3.3. Economic Impact of Powertrain Electrification on the Road Freight Vehicle Fleet*

The evaluation of the economic impact of powertrain electrification on the road freight vehicle fleet was performed in terms of the net cash flow; defined as the difference between the road freight vehicle fleet RCO for a given scenario and the road freight vehicle fleet RCO for the Base scenario. The net cash flows for the alternative scenarios are presented in Figure 12. Since penetration of EDVs in the new vehicle sales is slow during the early stages of deployment, net cash flows for all alternative scenarios remain close to zero until 2030. Differences become larger thereafter. The HBB scenario has the largest net cash flows, with the peak outside the time horizon and reaching 9.6 billion USD/year by 2050. The second largest net cash flows are obtained for the FBB scenario, peaking at 6.7 billion USD/year in 2049, and reaching 6.6 billion USD/year by 2050. The lowest net cash flows are obtained for the HBB scenario, peaking at 4.6 billion USD/year in 2049, reaching 4.5 billion USD/year by 2050. It can be seen that the largest values for the net cash flow are obtained for scenarios with BEV diffusion. Furthermore, if BEVs were to be deployed in compact and mini-sized vehicles, it is more cost-effective to deploy FCEVs than HEVs in normal vehicles.

**Figure 12.** Net cash flow.

Powertrain electrification leads to lower energy consumption in the alternative scenarios than in the Base scenario; with energy savings reaching 4.2, 4.6 and 7.6 billion USD/year by 2050 in the HBB, HFF and FBB scenarios. However, incremental capital and O&M costs increase for all alternative scenarios, reaching 13.8, 9.0 and 14.2 billion USD/year by 2050 in the HBB, HFF and FBB scenarios. Since energy savings cannot outweigh capital cost increments when BEVs and FCEVs are deployed, net cash flows remain positive during the whole time horizon in all alternative scenarios.

### *3.4. Policy Implications*

In order to obtain a complete perspective of the impact of powertrain electrification on the road freight vehicle fleet, the performance of all scenarios was assessed in terms of TTW energy use, WTW CO2 emissions and RCO. Scores for the Base scenario and the three alternative scenarios in 2050 are shown in Figure 13. Ideally, the goal is to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions while reducing or maintaining the fleet RCO. However, as seen from the net cash flow, powertrain electrification increases the road freight vehicle fleet RCO compared with the Base scenario. The Base scenario is the top performer in terms of cost. Nevertheless, it has the lowest performance in terms of energy use and CO2 emissions. In contrast, the HFF scenario has better performance in terms of CO2 emissions; however, cost performance is reduced by half compared to the Base scenario. The HBB scenario can offer larger CO2 emissions reductions compared with the HFF scenario; nevertheless, it has the lowest cost performance out of all scenarios. The best performance overall is obtained in the FBB scenario, showing the largest energy consumption and CO2 emissions reductions, with a cost performance between the HFF and HBB scenarios. Therefore, diffusion of FCEVs in normal vehicles and BEVs in compact and mini-sized vehicles is recommended as the best strategy for powertrain electrification in road freight transport in Japan.

**Figure 13.** Scenario scores in 2050.

In order to achieve powertrain electrification in road freight transport, it is important to incentivize OEMs to accelerate the development and mass production of road freight EDVs. As road freight vehicle owners often own several vehicles and are more focused on reducing cost than passenger LDV owners [16], policies to incentivize powertrain electrification can have a faster acceptance in road freight vehicles than in passenger LDVs. Therefore, it is also recommended to design measures to help road freight vehicle fleet owners investing in EDVs. Additionally, diffusion of EDVs in road freight transport can help improving social acceptance and developing infrastructure that can benefit EDV diffusion in passenger LDVs. In that sense, the assessment of powertrain electrification strategies that include passenger LDVs and road freight vehicles considering the dynamics of technology diffusion is suggested for future research.

A large asymmetry was found between the vehicle stock distribution by size class and the CO2 emissions. Normal vehicles account for 13.3% of the road freight vehicle stock in all scenarios. However, they account for more than 61% of TTW and WTW CO2 emissions. Considering normal vehicle stock is the smallest among all road freight vehicle size classes and it is concentrated in few users, it is recommended to prioritize normal vehicles when designing measures for powertrain electrification in road freight transport.


**Abstract**

In current study, fully developed flow of Al2O3-water nanofluid with forced convection heat transfer in channel is investigated with different models of heat and mass distribution. The channel is filled with porous media of open-celled Cu metal foams. The Darcy and Brinkman models are used for the mass flow; however, the heat transfer distribution is examined through the local thermal equilibrium (LTE) and the local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) models. Exact solutions for Darcy-LTE, Brinkman-LTE, Darcy-LTNE, and Brinkman-LTNE models are obtained. Temperature profiles by these different models are discussed under effect of nanoparticle concentration and compare the profiles with each other.

**Keywords:** nanofluid, porous media, Darcy-LTE, Brinkman-LTE, Darcy-LTNE, Brinkman-LTNE models


**5. Conclusions**

COVID-19 has challenged society's social abilities. With society's new constraints, academic research had to adapt in order to make progress. Social science research, specifically stakeholder engagement, was one such area that met many limitations during the pandemic. The deliberative multicriteria evaluation process builds upon a methodology in which human interaction is essential to the outcomes of the process. Here, we discussed how we were able to modify the DMCE methodology so that the experiment could still take place during a COVID-19 era with no in-person interaction allowed. To do so, we built upon the principles of the DMCE methodology and transferred it online using resources that were publicly available, free, and already used by the participants. While modifications to length (5 to 3 h) and order (participants were asked to watch expert videos before their participation date) of the workshop were necessary, most other elements of the methodology remained the same for the online format. The main element that was lacking was the in-person interactions. However, with video conferencing tools available, this element was not completely lost. In agreement with the findings of Liu et al., our research highlighted the use and easy deployment of education technology to expand traditional social science research and engage with a more diverse (in terms of relationship to oysters and microplastics in Massachusetts) audience [28].

Society, including the research community, may interact very differently in a post-COVID-19 world. This paper highlights how stakeholder engagement can still occur in this new virtual reality. Future research can explore how to improve and encourage the discourse between participants using video conferencing tools (e.g., through the use of breakout rooms, better facilitation techniques). While keeping costs low was an aim of this research, exploring other platforms that are not free may strengthen the outcomes of the workshops as those platforms may have better tools to engage with and between participants.

**Author Contributions:** Conception and design: C.T., G.M., J.U.-R. acquisition of data: C.T., G.M., J.U.-R. and interpretation of data: C.T., G.M. Drafted and/or revised the article: C.T., G.M., J.U.-R. Approved the submitted version for publication: C.T., G.M., J.U.-R. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This work is supported the National Science Foundation IGERT: Coasts and Communities—Natural and Human Systems in Urbanizing Environments Program NSF DGE 1249946.

**Acknowledgments:** The stakeholder workshops were approved by the University of Boston IRB # 2020013. We thank Juanita Urban-Rich, Evan J. Ward, and Abigail Barrows for serving as experts, Jennifer Bender for serving as the facilitator, and all of the stakeholders who participated.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.


**Case Study: Model Test on the E** ff**ects of Grade Control Datum Drop on the Upstream Bed Morphology in Shiting River**

#### **Xudong Ma, Lu Wang \*, Ruihua Nie, Kejun Yang and Xingnian Liu**

State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics & Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China<EMAIL_ADDRESS>(X.M<EMAIL_ADDRESS>(R.N<EMAIL_ADDRESS>(K.Y<EMAIL_ADDRESS>(X.L.) **\*** Correspondence<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
Received: 28 June 2019; Accepted: 6 September 2019; Published: 11 September 2019

**Abstract:** This paper conducted an undistorted scaled model test (geometric scale λ*L* = 1:80; the others are derived scales based on Froude similitude) of a 1.3 km-long river reach in Shiting River, China, investigating the impacts of the grade control datum (GCD, defined as the crest elevation of the grade control structure) drop on the upstream bed morphology. Three GCDs and six flood events (occurrence probability 1–50%, discharge = 600–4039 m3/s) were tested on the model. Experimental results indicate that, for a constant GCD, the increase in discharge deepens and widens the upstream river bed. For a lower GCD, the increase in channel depth and width caused by the increasing discharge is greater. For each discharge, the decrease in GCD induces a lower and steeper upstream river bed, widening the upstream main channel.  Experimental data also indicate that the maximum general scour depth at the 105th Provincial Highway Bridge is approximately independent of discharge for a constant GCD. For a lower GCD, the general scour depth at the 105th Provincial Highway Bridge increases slightly with discharge.

**Keywords:** bed morphology; bridge scour; general scour; grade control


*3.1. South African Key Coal Power Generation Plants Overview*

South Africa has 15 key coal-powered thermal power stations. These stations are owned and operated by Eskom. Two of these stations are the new supercritical power stations, Medupi and Kusile, which are still under construction and at different stages of completion. The power stations are mostly concentrated in Mpumalanga Province, mainly due to the large availability of coal in this province. Twelve coal power stations are located in Mpumalanga, two in Limpopo Province, and one in Free State Province. Figure 4 shows the location of the South African coal-fired power stations [40]. South Africa also has one nuclear power generation station located in the Western Cape Province. This power station has an installed capacity of 1940 MW. This nuclear station and the coal-fired power stations contribute to over 80% of South Africa's installed capacity and supply the country's baseload. The PCLF and UCLF data used in this research are from these coal-fired powered stations and the nuclear power station, collected from a centralized database.


**Author details**

Dragana Komnenov Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, United States of America

\*Address all correspondence to<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
© 2022 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.