The US Congress has just passed the most meaningful climate change legislation in more than a decade. However, despite its significance, it is regrettable that it neglects road freight, which is one of the most timely and important opportunities to reduce climate pollution, improve human health, and promote the development of new domestic industries.
The new government can correct this problem through future legislation, including investment and policy support for production, purchase, and charging infrastructure to achieve a nationwide transition to zero-emission electric trucks.
Unfortunately, although people are increasingly aware of the important role of batteries in powering cars, buses, and trucks, they are important for long-distance, heavy-duty (for example, driving more than 300 miles between two gas stations) Of pure electric trucks are usually supported by misinformation provided by existing companies in the fossil fuel and internal combustion engine industries. Even some advocates of clean transportation do not fully understand the feasibility and appeal of replacing the polluting diesel truck fleet with long-range pure electric towed trailers.
The fact is that with the support of targeted policies, pure electric and fuel cell long-range trucks will soon be able to surpass diesel vehicles in terms of cost advantages, while bringing huge benefits to public health and climate.
In fact, the competition between batteries and diesel is in a stage of rapid development, on the one hand because of the decline in battery costs, on the other hand, to obtain cheap electricity from today’s cheap zero-carbon energy.
Reducing the cost of zero-hydrocarbon fuel is possible, but it is more challenging because the production and distribution chain does not have the learning speed advantage of batteries. If we are serious about addressing climate change issues, active and strict policy support is essential for zero-emission technology to replace diesel fleets.
Less than five years ago, almost no one in climatology believed that long-range trucks could be driven without internal combustion engines. The best result many people expect is to replace fossil fuels with biofuels.
A few people see the future potential of zero-emission trucks with pollution-free exhaust gas. Most people believe that hydrogen fuel cells are the only viable zero-emission technology, provided that we can significantly reduce the cost of owning, operating, and conveniently replenishing fuel.
But of the approximately 25 long-range zero-emission truck models that the manufacturer plans to launch by 2022, only five are fuel cell trucks. The rest are powered by lithium-ion batteries.
This is a profound change. Not long ago, few people thought that batteries would become cheap enough, light enough, durable enough, and fast enough to charge long-range trucks. Today, batteries are increasingly becoming the technology of choice for zero-emission road transportation, including medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
So, why not take more measures to encourage the use of trucks? Some critics of pure electric trucks falsely claim that the battery is always too heavy and the charging speed is never fast enough to be a viable solution for zero-emission remote trucks.
Vested interest groups, such as some people in the oil and gas industry, have seized on these false claims to sow discord between hydrogen and battery supporters, with the goal of creating chaos and slowing the transition to zero emissions.
Let’s examine these statements one by one to understand why they are wrong.
Weight
The North American Freight Efficiency Commission (NACFE) estimates that almost 90% of the heaviest trucks in the United States travel less than 500 miles per day on average. Within 500 miles, a purely electric towed trailer will require a battery capable of providing approximately 1.2 megawatt-hours of energy. Although the battery is heavy, a pure electric truck requires hundreds of fewer components than a diesel truck.
According to a recent study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), since pure electric trucks do not require engines, fuel tanks, multi-speed transmissions and most of the transmission system, the net weight increase of 1.2 MWh pure electric trucks is only about 8,000 pounds . Therefore, if a manufacturer simply converts an 80,000-pound towing trailer into a battery-powered one, without further investment in aerodynamics and lightweight, it will result in a loss of payload of up to 10%.
The 10% payload loss is significant, but not large enough to make long-range trucks unsustainable-according to NACFE, more than 80% of US trucks will not be affected by this weight loss. But the reality may be better. If a truck is designed as a pure electric vehicle, while considering weight reduction, aerodynamics, and the use of battery packs to improve structural strength, then the current battery pack energy density calculation, the load loss can be reduced to 3%.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a recent interview that he expects that once the battery pack’s energy density reaches 300 watt-hours per kilogram (only 15% higher than the current industry average), the mileage will be Trucks weighing 500 miles (or more) will weigh the same as diesel trucks. Battery energy density has increased by 300% since 2010. In the next few years, 15% growth is almost beyond doubt.
Charging and facility upgrades
A persistent misunderstanding is that it takes a few hours to charge a large truck, or the power demand will put pressure on the grid. What is usually implicit in these claims is the assumption that the fast charger will not exceed an output of 250kw. But there is no insurmountable technical obstacle to build a charging station that can provide 500 miles of battery life within 30 minutes.
A power station that can quickly charge up to five towed trailers at the same time will generate about 10 megawatts of electricity, which is less than the electricity generated by General Electric’s new wind turbines. Every year, thousands of new urban load centers (such as hospitals) are put into use around the world, requiring more than 10 megawatts of electricity, but these centers rarely require major grid upgrades.
In addition, truck charging stations do not need to be built in urban centers, and are more suitable to be built in power distribution centers or along major highways close to high-voltage transmission lines, which further reduces costs. Upgrading the power distribution system and building a truck charging network is certainly not a trivial matter, but it is still routine for public utility companies that plan ahead. In short, electric trucks will not “destroy the grid.”
But please don’t get me wrong, the transformation of the worldwide long-range freight truck fleet to zero emissions will still be a huge challenge. It will require strict vehicle standards to incentivize truck manufacturers to produce and sell zero-emission trucks, just like California’s Advanced Clean Truck rule.
This requires continuous investment in charging infrastructure, manufacturing, and training by the public and private sectors to create new jobs. It will benefit from targeted incentives, preferential access to ports and cities, and other measures that make zero-emission trucks economically attractive to all users. Unfortunately, it will face opposition from existing and backward industry players.
But fortunately, it does not require us to invent a completely new technology. The pure electric truck is ready.
