They are considered heavy, expensive and impractical: electric trucks are still a rarity on the road. New models like those from Mercedes promise longer ranges and shorter charging times. But it will probably take some time before they reach the mainstream.
This week on the A7 motorway in Egestorf, Lower Saxony, the commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck presented the series version of its fully electric long-distance truck, the Mercedes-Benz eActros 600, with a declaration of war: In the long term, battery-operated trucks should replace diesel vehicles. But can they do that too?
Diesel trucks in particular still transport goods across the country on German roads. Last year, of the total of around 254,000 newly registered trucks in Germany, only 18,300 were completely electrically powered, according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). The lion’s share – just over 220,000 – were diesel trucks. The Federal Association of Freight Transport, Logistics and Disposal (BGL) reports that of the almost 800,000 trucks over 7.5 tons that roll through Germany every day, just 400 vehicles were battery-powered in August – just 0.05 percent of the daily fleet.
That should change now. All well-known truck manufacturers are planning or already offering an electric alternative: whether Scania, MAN, Volvo or Renault. The battery-powered trucks not only promise to be more climate-friendly, but also to achieve greater ranges – a major point of criticism for a long time.
Range expanded
500 kilometers without intermediate charging is now possible with the new truck model. The eActros 600 from Mercedes-Benz with a battery capacity of 600 kilowatt hours demonstrated this a few days ago when it drove 530 kilometers across the Alps on one battery charge. This means that 4.5 hours of driving time is possible before a break of 45 minutes to recharge the truck, which can weigh up to 44 tonnes including its payload.
The Dutch commercial vehicle manufacturer DAF also offers an electric model with a range of 500 kilometers, so after 45 minutes of charging time a range of 1000 kilometers would theoretically be possible every day. This can also charge its batteries to 80 percent within 45 minutes.
But not everyone can keep up with the 500 kilometers. The Swedish vehicle manufacturer Scania offers an electric drone with a range of 350 kilometers. Other manufacturers, however, are following suit: The Munich manufacturer MAN, on the other hand, plans to go into series production with its electric truck from 2025, and the vehicle should then travel 400 kilometers after one charge.
This means that electric trucks have caught up with diesel engines in terms of range. But the differences to the diesel counterpart are still striking. A fully fueled diesel truck can cover distances of between 600 and more than 1000 kilometers – with a refueling time of 15 minutes.
Electric trucks are also currently heavier compared to diesel trucks. A standard truck, including a payload of around 25 tons, can weigh a maximum of 40 tons. The batteries make electric trucks heavier, but they can also weigh more: a total of 42 tons of total load is possible with the electric alternative.
Electric trucks are three times more expensive than diesel
In addition, trucks with alternative drives are currently significantly more expensive than their combustion engine versions. Roughly estimated, battery-electric trucks cost three times as much as diesel trucks. If a standard tractor unit costs 100,000 euros, says BGL board spokesman Dirk Engelhardt tagesschau.de, then the price for a comparable electric truck would be around 300,000 euros. This is also due to the still expensive batteries.
In any case, it is said privately in the industry that electric trucks can actually only be sold through subsidies. The purchase of commercial vehicles with climate-friendly drives is currently still heavily subsidized – 80 percent of the additional costs of electric drives compared to the combustion engine variant can be subsidized. However, the funding pot is to be significantly reduced in the next budget.
However, the high acquisition costs should be amortized after a few years. Low electricity prices and the planned CO2-based truck toll, which will be introduced this December, would have a positive impact on operating costs in countries such as Germany and France, Mercedes said. Electric trucks are exempt from tolls. After a holding period of around five years or around 600,000 kilometers, the electric truck could be more profitable than the diesel variant.
Free travel for electric trucks?
The auditing firm PwC estimated in a study last year that battery-electric commercial vehicles could dominate the truck market in a few years – but only in about a decade. It is assumed that the prices for electric trucks will be 30 percent cheaper than diesel trucks in terms of overall costs by 2030. Rising CO2 taxes, higher diesel costs, lower maintenance costs and falling battery costs would contribute to this. The auditing firm assumes that by the beginning of the 2030s one in three new trucks in Europe, North America and China will be electric, and by 2035 the proportion of new registrations would rise to over 70 percent.
It will probably be a few years before electric vehicles overtake the market, and it is also subject to conditions such as a widespread charging infrastructure. At the moment, the electric trucks are more like moving prototypes, says Simon Brück, head of environment, climate and energy policy at the DSLV Federal Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics, tagesschau.de. The technology is continuing to develop, but he also assumes that widespread electrification of trucks will only be achieved in the next decade. The problem is: “We don’t yet have the infrastructure to load at this speed.”
In addition to the high purchase costs, a lack of a comprehensive charging network is probably one of the biggest hurdles to the use of electric trucks in Germany and Europe. BGL board spokesman Engelhardt describes it as the chicken-and-egg problem and asks the question: “What use is it to the transport company if he can buy electric trucks but cannot charge them?”
Not a single “mega charger”
The charging stations, which could charge the Mercedes eActros 600 in 45 minutes, are called “mega chargers”. According to Engelhardt, there is not a single freely accessible one in Germany. Meeting demand is not possible overnight and requires several years for market implementation.
Currently, the electric trucks are mainly charged overnight at the depots. This so-called depot charging takes up to eight hours. Ultimately, this would mean that the trucks can only drive in the operational areas where they arrive back at the same company premises in the evening. The use would therefore be severely restricted, for example to regional transport. And depot charging is currently not easily possible for the local power grids.
Above all, there is a lack of money for the development of the charging infrastructure: The US consulting firm McKinsey estimates investments in the expansion of the charging network at 450 billion dollars in the coming years, in Europe PwC estimates 36 billion euros for the construction of charging stations and Hydrogen filling stations. Money that would theoretically be there through the collected CO2 toll. But – the associations criticize – this should flow primarily into the railways and not into the development of the charging infrastructure.
More Wind turbines for a green electricity mix
In the transport sector, the federal government wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by almost half compared to 1990 by 2040. And manufacturers have also set themselves ambitious goals to electrify their fleets. The fact that battery-electric trucks also drive in a climate-friendly manner depends heavily on the electricity mix that they receive. “Electric trucks are only good for the climate if they are charged with green energy,” says Engelhardt.
Theoretically, 188,000 wind turbines are necessary for road traffic alone – “a huge challenge given the current inventory of around 28,000 wind turbines,” said the BGL board spokesman. The climate would not be helped if the electric trucks obtained their electricity from lignite or imported nuclear power – and ultimately carried more weight around the area.