20 May/June 2024 | E-Mobility Engineering A unique project plans to electrify the niche market of snow groomers, reports Rory Jackson Power on the piste More than 300 ski resorts decorate the five mountain ranges of France, and these are home to some vehicles that are quite unlike those found at any other kind of sporting retreat. One may at first think of snowmobiles, once described to us as “possibly the hardest type of vehicle to electrify” given the icy environments, high vibrations and duty cycles they must be designed to handle – although, as seen in our feature on the Aurora Powertrains eSled in Issue 16 (winter 2022), a few companies are starting to successfully design and commercialise such vehicles to run on batteries rather than diesel. Snow groomers are arguably less thought of, despite being more central to the running of ski resorts. Also known as ‘trail groomers’ in American English or ‘piste bashers’ in British English, these are large, heavy vehicles, typically powered by diesel engines and running plough-like, hydraulically operated sets of blades, tillers and other snow-shaping equipment off their front ends. Through the hydraulic equipment running off their diesel engine shafts, these powerful mobile machines are widely used in the maintenance of ski slopes, as well as the erecting of winter sports structures such as half pipes, terrain parks and snow-tube parks, which are highly valued by skiers and snowboarders, not to mention the grooming of cross-country skiing trails, and the clearing or ring-fencing of roads and runways for logistics or medical services to make their way in and out of resort grounds. Standard snow groomers come with significant drawbacks, however. They typically consume a costly 30-35 litres of diesel per hour. It follows that they produce copious carbon, NOx and other pollutants harmful to resort patrons, not to mention considerable noise. Their high fuel consumption, the wintery environments in which they work and the many moving parts in their diesel powertrains also make for very high maintenance costs when using fleets. Take all the financial and experiential benefits that could be gained from curing snow groomers of their need for diesel, and group these with the existential threat that climate change poses to the survival of ski resorts or any other industry reliant on snowcapped mountain tops (with average annual snow cover days projected to decline by 50-78% in some ranges A consortium of French companies has created a hydrogen-electric powertrain, ideal for electrifying snow groomers and other heavy-duty, long-range vehicles (Image courtesy of PistenBully)
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