In diesel engines, approximately 30-40% of the energy supplied by the fuel is rejected to the ambience through exhaust gases. Therefore, there is a potentiality for further considerable increase of diesel engine efficiency with the utilization of exhaust gas heat and its conversion to mechanical or electrical energy. In the present study, the operational behavior of a heavy-duty (HD) diesel truck engine equipped with an electric turbocompounding system is examined on a theoretical basis. The electrical turbocompounding configuration comprised of a power turbine coupled to an electric generator, which is installed downstream to the turbocharger (T/C) turbine. A diesel engine simulation model has been developed using operating charts for both turbocharger and power turbine. A method for introducing the operating charts into the engine model is described thoroughly. A parametric analysis is conducted with the developed simulation tool, where the varying parameter is the rotational speed of power turbine shaft. In this study, the interaction between the power turbine and the turbocharged diesel engine is examined in detail. The effect of power turbine speed on T/C components efficiencies, power turbine efficiency, exhaust pressure and temperature, engine boost pressure and air to fuel ratio is evaluated. In addition, theoretical results for the potential impact of electrical turbocompounding on the generated electric power, net engine power and relative improvement of brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc) are provided. The critical evaluation of the theoretical findings led to the basic conclusion that there is a significant potential for bsfc improvement of HD diesel truck engines with the proposed electrical turbocompounding concept, which reaches up to 4% at full engine load. The improvement of bsfc with electric turbocompounding appears to be more attractive solution in terms of technical complexity and installation cost against other competitive heat recovery technologies such as Rankine cycle systems. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.