Under the energy crisis, it is too difficult for a large number of electric trucks to drive on European highways

Source: Netease Technology

    On September 20, it was reported that Daimler Truck Holding AG, a truck and bus manufacturing subsidiary of Daimler, and Volvo Group will display their latest electric trucks in Germany with dozens of commercial vehicle manufacturers this week. More zero emission trucks will debut at IAA Transportation than ever before.

    Daimler launched the Mercedes Benz eActros, which can haul 22 tons of goods for about 500 kilometers when fully charged. MAN, a brand of Traton SE, is showing a 40 ton electric truck that can be charged quickly. Volvo provides test drives of electric trucks for visitors.

    However, the key question that executives in the field of electric trucks must answer is: how long will it take for their heavy electric vehicles to drive from the exhibition hall to the expressway. The high battery price and the nearly non-existent truck charging network are still major obstacles. At the time of the unprecedented energy crisis in Europe and the global economic slowdown, transport companies are weighing whether it is worthwhile to continue to invest heavily.

    Nicholas, analyst of Bloomberg NEF? Nikolas Soulopolous said: "There are many electric trucks on the market now, but their adoption speed is very slow, especially in Europe. The production capacity is still slowly increasing. There is not enough suitable public charging network available, and truck batteries are still very expensive."

    Nevertheless, there is still pressure on the truck industry to transform to electrification. As cities strive to improve air quality, European companies operating in urban areas need to comply with stricter truck regulations. Electrified heavy vehicles will be the key to tackling climate change, as they generate about a quarter of the EU‘s road traffic emissions.

    Europe hopes that the industry will reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of new trucks by 30% by 2030. Most manufacturers bet that batteries, rather than hydrogen fuel cells, will be the leading technology to achieve this goal. However, compared with the US plan to provide US $40000 subsidy to buyers of electric heavy trucks, most European countries have no similar measures.

    Traton, a brand of Volkswagen Group, promises that by 2030, half of its trucks will no longer use fossil fuels. Its Scania brand delivered an 80 ton electric truck to SCA, a forest company, this year. The latter is using this truck to transport timber in northern Sweden. Last week, Volvo started the mass production of heavy electric trucks and said that it had sold more than 2600 battery driven trucks.

    Bloomberg NEF analyst Solopoulos said: "For some use cases, especially the short distance in cities, the total cost of ownership of battery electric trucks may soon drop to the level of diesel vehicles."

    At present, the batch production schedules of electric trucks of major manufacturers are different, because they are still difficult to increase production capacity and obtain sufficient parts. The eActros under Daimler will not be mass produced until 2024, and MAN‘s trucks will not be put into production until 2025.

    Nikola plans to launch the fuel cell Tre FCEV Beta at this week‘s auto show. The company has only delivered dozens of trucks, and now it is likely that its founder Trevor? Trevor Milton‘s criminal fraud trial was a distraction. Tesla has delayed the production of Semi electric truck several times.

    Volvo, Traton and Daimler plan to spend 500 million euros (about 498 million dollars) in the next five years to build at least 1700 charging stations for heavy electric vehicles in Europe. Daimler has also launched a similar project with BlackRock in the United States, which aims to improve the battery and accelerate the charging speed.

    Ask Romid, partner of Oliver Wyman? Romed Kelp said: "Europe needs a fairly dense charging network for high-speed trucks to promote the wider adoption of long-distance battery driven electric trucks. First, it needs to identify appropriate locations, but it is unclear whether the energy infrastructure in some of these locations is ready to respond to the surge in demand."