Electric trucks are the future of heavy transportation, and they are being produced in Europe, North America, and China. While they have been rolled out faster than expected, it will still take a while for them to overtake polluting diesel trucks in number. Electric heavy trucks require massive amounts of energy to propel their heavy loads, raising questions about their range and recharging capabilities. They need charging terminals dozens of times more powerful than those made for electric cars. Electric trucks are also more expensive, currently costing between two to three times more than a traditional diesel model, according to industry experts.
The Advantages of Electric Trucks
The higher up-front price of an electric truck can be offset by cheaper running costs using electricity, as well as different country-specific incentives. Diesel long-haul trucks emit around one kilo of CO2 per kilometre, while the carbon footprint of an electric truck with Europe’s current electricity mix is two-thirds lower than that of a diesel truck. Electric trucks are expected to account for 90 percent of the truck market by 2040, according to analysis group International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT).
The Future of Heavy Transportation
The global truck market is sizable, estimated at more than $200 billion per year with almost six million units sold. The main Western truck makers such as Germany’s Daimler and Man, Sweden’s Volvo and its French subsidiary Renault Trucks, and the other Swedish manufacturer Scania, have invested heavily in electric trucks. US manufacturer Tesla also aims to break into the e-trucks sector, with its “Semi” model promising a range of up to 800 kilometres (500 miles).
“In 2030, 50 percent of the volume that we sell for Volvo Trucks should be zero emissions … and in 2040, everything that we sell should be zero emissions,” said Roger Alm, head of Volvo Group’s trucks division. This more or less corresponds to the level necessary to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement to decarbonise road transport, according to the ICCT.
Together with other manufacturers, Volvo, the world’s second-biggest truck builder, has agreed to take part in a vast European project to increase the number of truck charging stations, currently one of the weak points holding back their adoption. To quickly recharge an electric truck charging stations need a capacity of five megawatt hours. That is equivalent to the production provided by one modern wind turbine at full capacity, and 50 to 100 times more powerful than a charging station for an electric car.
Felipe Rodriguez, an independent expert at analysis group ICCT, said, “There is now a race to really develop and launch these electric trucks on the market. It has started to really take off and grow in the Northern parts of Europe and in North America. Now it’s moving into the southern parts of Europe, and we also have new markets in Africa, for example, Australia, Brazil, so it’s expanding country by country.”
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