The facts about electric trucks

First up, this is not a doomsday prediction about the imminent demise of diesel trucks. Diesel trucks will be with us in Australia for many years.

However, the growth of short-haul electric truck sales is assured and is limited at present only by their availability. It’s only a matter of time before heavier trucks are electrified.

Northern hemisphere countries are electrifying their car and truck fleets at a rapid rate, while Australia lags well behind. This may be a partly good thing in that we can avoid some of the inevitable mistakes that will be made, but the fact remains that we’re late to the party.

The Australian short-haul, pick-up and delivery business is a walk-up start for battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), because these trucks do limited daily distances and return at the end of the day to a depot, where overnight charging is done in the same way that electric forklift trucks have been recharged for many years.

The situation with articulated, heavy-gross-mass vehicles is nothing like that, particularly in the case of linehaul combinations that typically run almost non-stop, with driver changes to keep the truck earning its keep. ‘Down time’, where the prime mover isn’t hauling something, is avoided at all costs.

For maximum utilisation in linehaul tasks, something different is required and that will probably come down to rapid charging stations – up to a megawatt capacity – or battery-swap stations en route.

China has more BEV heavy trucks than any other country and is pursuing a battery-swap regime. We inspected some of these trucks at last year’s IAA show in Germany and noted that each had a battery ‘pod’ behind the cab.

China’s drive-through battery swap stations have roof cranes that remove a truck’s ‘spent’ pod and replace it with a fully-charged one in a matter of minutes, while the driver takes a short break. The customer is credited with any remaining power in the used battery and charged for the fresh amps. Australia’s Janus initiative has chassis-mounted, removable battery banks.

The USA is also electrifying rapidly, despite that fact that an electric truck costs an average 2.8 times the RRP of a diesel truck.

Under the USA’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), fleet operators can qualify for up to $US40,000 in tax credits for each electric truck heavier than 14,000 pounds (6350kg).

The law includes a $US1 billion Clean Heavy Duty Vehicle Program to provide funding to states, municipalities, tribes and non-profit school transportation associations to electrify heavy-duty fleets.

The IRA also extended the 30 per cent tax credit for electric vehicle supply equipment and increased the commercial cap to $100,000 per charger.

A 2023 fact sheet published by the USA’s Environmental and Energy Study Institute summarised the current situation and surprised the road transport industry with some of its findings.

The most interesting evaluation was the lower ‘whole of life’ cost of a BEV Class 8 heavy truck.

“Electricity is less expensive than diesel fuel, producing large savings over long distances and electricity rates are relatively stable, providing predictability for fleet operators,” the report stated.

“A simpler electric drivetrain also reduces maintenance costs and regenerative braking extends brake life and increases range.

“A 2021 study from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated that an electric semi-truck with a 375-mile range would have a 13 per cent lower total cost of ownership ($US1.51 per mile) than a diesel model ($US1.73 per mile).

“This leads to a net savings of $200,000 over the semi-truck’s 15-year lifetime,” said the report.

Obviously, translating these exact costings into the Australian road transport scene isn’t accurate, because the typical US five-axle semi-trailer Inter-stater grosses out at 36 tonnes and diesel in the USA is a very low $US1.10 per litre. Here, we’re running almost twice that gross weight, in the case of B-doubles and paying almost twice that price for diesel. There are also US government financial incentives for electric truck purchases that don’t exist here.

The EESI paper also charted the current operating range and recharging times for BEV heavy trucks currently available in the USA.

“Some of these semi-trucks are better suited to regional routes rather than long-haul routes that exceed 250 miles,” the report stated.

“Thanks to improvements in technology, models with larger battery capacities and more range do not necessarily take longer to recharge.

“Manufacturers recommend fast-charging a battery to between 70 and 90 per cent capacity, because charging rates slow down drastically past that point.”

It’s notable that Tesla claims more range and faster charging than its competitors, but that company has a reputation for massive overstatement, so more real-word experience with the well-publicised Pepsi-Cola fleet is needed.

Although all major truck makers are investigating the viability of hydrogen-fueled fuel-cell electric trucks, there’s currently no commercial refueling infrastructure for this technology anywhere in the world. Nor does it seem cost competitive with BEV technology, at this stage.

Most of the global infrastructure investment is going into battery recharging and the USA’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program requires states to make plans to build public charging stations every 50 miles (80km) along alternative fuel corridors.

The bill also funds research, demonstration and deployment for low- and zero-emission transportation options, as well as expanded electric vehicle charging infrastructure – including for heavy-duty vehicles.

Five states have adopted California’s Advanced Clean Truck Act, requiring manufacturers to increase zero-emission semi-truck sales by 75 per cent and other states are considering it.

It’s clear from the foregoing that the transition from fossil-fuelled to electric vehicles is going to be a long and costly business all around the world.

As we’ve already seen, the integration of BEV distribution trucks, doing ‘last mile’ deliveries isn’t a problem in Australia, but longer-distance and heavier-weight combinations pose a huge problem.

Australia is in a uniquely difficult position for linehaul road transport electrification, with high density population centres and huge distances in between. Also, we operate the longest, heaviest, fastest truck combinations in the world.

On top of that, the Australian heavy truck market is tiny, in global terms, so no-one is going to make a BEV specifically for us.

We are certainly living in interesting times.

Excerpts from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute fact sheet were used under a creative commons attribution licence.