Electric trucks: in a few years they will be better than traditional ones

As early as June, the European Parliament sanctioned the stop to the sale of diesel and petrol cars after 2035; Obviously there was no lack of protests – some still ongoing – in many countries, based above all on the idea that the ban is too close and that companies in the sector need much more time to convert their entire production line from thermal to electric.

Without getting into the diatribe as to whether this statement is true or not, the NGO Transport & Environmentwhich we have mentioned several times, commissioned a dossier from the Dutch research institute TNO to investigate the state of the art of the transition from thermal to electric for trucks and trucks. The result is that by 2035 zero-emission models will not cost less than diesel-powered counterparts, but will also perform better, even over long distances. Assuming that the “average life” of a truck is eighteen years old, in 2035 the replacement of the European fleet should begin and at that point be replaced directly with zero-emission models in all the continent’s markets, with some national markets, such as those of Northern Europe, which should decarbonise even faster.

Furthermore, by comparing the TCO (total cost of ownership) of an electric and a traditional model, that of zero-emission vehicles is lower, while maintaining the same performance in terms of distance, load and driving time as diesel-powered colleagues.

Long-haul trucks will have initially a slower adoption potential, but will grow rapidly to 80% by 2026 and 99.5% by 2030. This is possible by taking into account the distance covered by almost all road transport (97% of heavy vehicles in circulation) which is equal to 800 km per day, a range covered by most of the vehicles offered by the market; just it 0.2% of the electricity offer is unable to compete with the thermal consideration, but one more stop along the way will be enough to compensate for the gap (in addition to alland breaks required by law) in which to make the necessary recharge. “European legislators can confidently rely on electric vehicles for freight transport, knowing that they will be cheaper, will have greater load capacity and will be able to move at least equivalent distances to those covered by diesel engines”declared Andrea Boraschi, Clean Mobility Manager of T&E Italia.