Electric Trucks, the future of Heavy Vehicles..

An electric truck is an electric vehicle powered by batteries designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work.

Electric trucks have serviced niche applications like milk floats, pushback tugs and forklifts for over a hundred years, typically using lead-acid batteries, but the rapid development of lighter and more energy-dense battery chemistries in the twenty-first century has broadened the range of applicability of electric propulsion to trucks in many more roles.

Electric trucks reduce noise and pollution, relative to internal-combustion trucks. Due to the high efficiency and low component-counts of electric power trains, no fuel burning while idle, and silent and efficient acceleration, the costs of owning and operating electric trucks are dramatically lower than their predecessors. According to the United States Department of Energy, the average cost per kWh capacity of battery packs for trucks fell from $500 in 2013 to $200 in 2019, and still further to $137 in 2020, with some vehicles under $100 for the first time.

Long-distance freight has been the trucking segment least amenable to electrification, since the increased weight of batteries, relative to fuel, detracts from payload capacity, and the alternative, more frequent recharging, detracts from delivery time. By contrast, short-haul urban delivery has been electrified rapidly, since the clean and quiet nature of electric trucks fit well with urban planning and municipal regulation, and the capacities of reasonably sized batteries are well-suited to daily stop-and-go traffic within a metropolitan area.

In South Korea, electric trucks hold a noticeable share of the new truck market; in 2020, among trucks produced and sold domestically (which are the vast majority of new trucks sold in the country), 7.6% were all-electric vehicles.

California

In California, 70% of the smog pollution and 80% of carcinogenic diesel soot comes from the two million trucks out of 30 million registered in that state. As a remedy, California has decided to begin the clean truck standard. California has started its zero emission truck program in which they accelerate the production and deployment of electric trucks. At the end of 2021, California had 738 ZEV trucks, mostly battery powered.

An Electrified Charging Corridor Project, with 5 charging stations for medium and heavy EVs, will be completed by 2023. Chargers are already available at TEC Fontana and TEC La Mirada.

California wants 300,000 electric trucks of which 17,000 are semi trucks by 2035. By 2045, all trucks have to be electric.

South Korea

In South Korea, electric trucks hold a noticeable share of the new truck market; in 2020, among trucks produced and sold domestically (which are the vast majority of new trucks sold in the country), 7.6% were all-electric vehicles.

China

In China, by the end of 2020, there were around 466,000 New Energy Buses (NEB) in operation, of which 378,700 buses are Battery Electric Buses (BEB), accounting for 66% and 53.8% of the total amount of buses, respectively. It is expected that 72% of China’s urban public buses are expected to be electric by 2025.

Incentives

California Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP for short) offers up-front discounts on medium and heavy duty electric trucks. Additionally, discounts will be increased for public transit agencies, school buses for public school districts, and vehicles operating in disadvantaged communities. For example, a public school district could receive up to $198,000 off the price of a new electric bus; a public transit agency could receive $69,000 off the price of a new Class 4 electric shuttle. Launched by the California Air Resources Board in 2009, the project is part of California Climate Investments.

The New York Truck Voucher Incentive Program (NYTVIP) provides vouchers, or discounts, to fleets across New York State that purchase or lease medium- and heavy-duty zero-emission battery-electric vehicles (BEV). Administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), NYTVIP helps make it easier for fleets to adopt zero-emission vehicle technologies by significantly reducing upfront costs. For example, purchases of the Nikola Tre BEV can qualify for an incentive valued at up to $185,000 per truck, with a scrappage requirement.

At present there are a total of 37 Electric truck models in the market.

Electric truck

Borgward BE3000

BrightDrop Zevo

BYD 8TT

Chevrolet S-10 EV

Chevrolet Silverado EV

Citroën Berlingo électrique

Citroën e-Berlingo

Cummins Aeos

Elcat Electric Vehicles

Electricar DV4

Fisker Alaska

Ford F-150 Lightning

Ford Ranger EV

GMC Hummer EV

GMC Sierra EV

International DuraStar

JAC Shuailing i3-T330

JAC Shuailing T6

Kandi K32

Lordstown Endurance

Mazibuko M1B

Might-E Truck

Modec

Muravey VTS

Ram 1500 REV

Rivian

Rivian A16

Rivian R1T

Tesla Cybertruck

Tesla Semi

TuSimple

Volta Trucks

Walker Electric Truck

Workhorse Group