For a long while, it looked as if hydrogen fuel cells would be the technology of choice for emissions-free road transport. However, truck manufacturers and freight forwarders recently turned their attention to battery-electric vehicles.
For logistics companies, the shift to zero emissions will be difficult. While it only takes a few minutes to top up the tank of a truck with diesel, it takes hours to fully charge the battery of an EV, which presents a real challenge for logistics businesses with zero-emission aspirations.
Changing the type of drive unit and expanding charging capacity at the depot are associated with these high risks for freight forwarders; not least, because the companies often lack expertise in this area.
The consumption of a tractor unit shows that electricity is also no longer a minor issue. On average, the vehicle covers just over 200,000 km per year. Logistics company, Dachser moves around 4,000 such trucks. If they were all battery-powered, annual consumption would amount to 700 GWh.
Source: PV Magazine: Read The Article
PSR Analysis: This articles examines the move to battery powered trucks which is potentially very difficult with current high energy costs. Solar panels on the roofs of depots will potentially mitigate part of this cost but they themselves have an up front capital cost too PSR
Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research
