Posted on 06/22/2021 7:55:33 AM PDT by Red Badger
Heavy-duty trucks, or semi-trucks with a gross vehicle weight greater than 26,000 pounds, are responsible for around 15% of total U.S. transportation energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Electrifying these vehicles would be a significant step toward transportation decarbonization in the United States. However, the opportunity for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in heavy-duty trucking is highly debated due to concerns about vehicle range, charging requirements, and battery weights.
Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in collaboration with two electric utilities, recently studied a promising opportunity for near-term electrification within this segment through depot charging. This research, which examines multiple short-haul trucking operations, is detailed in a recent Nature Energy article. The team also explored the impact of these vehicles on the grid, showing that in most cases the existing technology can accommodate truck charging at depots.
"For years, the trucking industry has been skeptical of heavy-duty electric vehicles," said NREL's Brennan Borlaug, a research analyst and lead author of the study. "That perception is shifting, and our research suggests that certain short-haul operations can be electrified today with relatively low-power depot charging that won't overwhelm the grid."
Short-Haul Trucks Represent Significant Share of the Total Truck Population
While most people picture semi-trucks carrying heavy loads over long highways, data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau suggests that nearly 80% of heavy-duty trucks operate primarily within a 200-mile range. These trucks account for around 50% of total heavy-duty vehicle energy use and are typically responsible for distributing goods between warehouses and nearby retail establishments. As a result, the vehicles are often characterized by short, predictable routes and off-shift periods at central locations such as a vehicle depot, making them prime candidates for electrification. Ideally, fleets could perform all charging at their depots, where it is convenient, inexpensive, and fully controllable.
Commercial heavy-duty trucking operations are motivated to reduce operating costs. A 2020 BloombergNEF report shows that fuel costs for trucks make up more than half their total cost of ownership. The switch to BEV fleets would offer a significant reduction in fuel costs and require less routine maintenance, another key advantage for fleets.
Simulating EV Charging for Real-World Fleet Operations
NREL researchers leveraged real-world operating data from NREL's Fleet DNA clearinghouse to simulate EV charging at fleet depots and made the charging loads results publicly available for other researchers to use. The Fleet DNA tool offers composite data summaries and visualizations for real-world medium- and heavy-duty fleet operations, useful for understanding the operating range of commercial vehicles across vocations and weight classes. NREL researchers simulated multiple charging strategies, including "smart" charging, where BEVs take full advantage of the time spent parked at the depot to charge at slower rates and reduce peak energy demand. This study shows that charging requirements could be met at power levels in line with current light-duty charging technology (≤100 kW/vehicle) for the fleets studied.
Integrating Heavy-Duty EV Charging on the Grid
A final focus of the research was to assess whether today's electricity distribution grid could adequately support heavy-duty depot charging. NREL collaborated with two utilities—Southern Company and Texas-based Oncor Electric Delivery Company—to perform a load integration study for 36 substations and summarize the costs and timelines required for anticipated grid upgrades. The team found that most (~80%) of the substations studied could supply the time-varying loads of 100 trucks charged at 100 kW/vehicle without any upgrades, and an additional 10% of substations could avoid upgrades if fleets used "smart" charging.
"This research is unique in that it paints a more complete picture of what it would look like to electrify these fleets," said David Woody, a senior manager in Distribution Planning with Oncor and a coauthor of the study. "As technologies that enable heavy-duty fleet electrification become available, studies like this can help anticipate and prepare for the effects of this transition. Customer engagement with utilities to review load profiles, current and future business and operational needs, and deployment timelines will be key in the transition to electrification."
Moving forward, NREL researchers are interested in studying how other commercial vehicle operating segments—such as last-mile delivery vans or long-haul trucking—may be electrified and integrated with the evolving grid.
Explore further
Commercial truck electrification is within reach
More information: Brennan Borlaug et al, Heavy-duty truck electrification and the impacts of depot charging on electricity distribution systems, Nature Energy (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-021-00855-0
Journal information: Nature Energy
Provided by National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Diesel’s days are numbered?........................
Translated: this is the only "study" that suggests that it is remotely feasible to do this.
Don’t say that to K.D. Lang…
>>The team found that most (~80%) of the substations studied could supply the time-varying loads of 100 trucks charged at 100 kW/vehicle without any upgrades, and an additional 10% of substations could avoid upgrades if fleets used “smart” charging.
take those charging stations offline in the summer and winter when people are already being told to go without heat or ac.
There is no demand
T Boone Pickens and others set up a consortium to facilitate natural gas as a long range truck fuel. The cost of the natural gas fuel vs Deisel was considerably less and now is probably a lot less.
The consortium included Flying J who has facilities all across the country at about 200 miles intervals. supply was readily and easily available. I believe the venture failed because the truck fuel consumers did not accept the bargain
CNG doesn’t have the energy content of diesel................
http://pointsandfigures.com/2011/04/27/natural-gas-vs-diesel/
Since it’s obvious that they’re going to ram this down our throats, if Republicans ever get back to being the majority, I’d love to see them mandate that those with EVs are required to use renewable energy methods to charge the batteries.
No more using traditional power plants to charge your batteries
This is all about the government and left leaning corporate leadership conspiring to get a refund on their investments. Nothing more. .
You’re going to save the world with your electric car, go whole hog and be a true believer. Charge the batteries with the sun or wind.
Good luck.
Ford tried pushing CNG cars for city police departments. Atlanta got a few. Too many problems. Engines not as responsive. Logistical nightmare with delivering the gas. They very soon went the way of the dodo.
So a bunch of college idiots think they can speak for truck drivers?
Correct......charging your batteries with electricity produced from fossil fuel generation, still pollutes. Just shut down all the fossil fuel power plants first, and see how that works out.
I think electric vehicles have a real place in our country, however what is consistently skimmed over is that the use of DC fast charging will damage the batteries. The more it is done, the more damage it causes. This in turn reduces capacity or leads to catastrophic failure. I read an article some months ago that it takes as few as 5 DC fast charging cycles to damage the batteries.
Can only speak for myself, but of all the things that irritate me about the LEFT, and there are a lot of them, is the HYPOCRISY.
Some adore is all about climate change, etc, awesome. Live the life. Disconnect. No more private jets. No more yachts. Go off grid s d prove to the word it can be done.
Start a company, with your won money, and find a solution to a problem you think exists.
remove all government subsidy in the supply chain and manufacture of electric vehicles, and remove all purchase subsidy from the consumer, and you’ll never see another EV sold.
Until EVs can compete without subsidy, they are dead meat hanging.
It’s all about the BTU’s.
Researchers? How about talking to Truckers and trucking companies?-)
Most imported goods come in through Cali so that's where a lot of trucks would have to charge at some point and they don't even have enough electricity as it is.
The article is weird because it just doesn’t come out and say that you can charge the vehicles at night when they are at the depot. They suggest it with “off-shift periods at central locations such as a vehicle depot.”
When EV research started ramping up back in the 80s, the idea was that the nation had a huge amount of untapped nighttime baseload coal and nuclear power that could be tapped to charge EV batteries at night. It was a way to use that asset at nighttime.
In the ensuing 40 years, that has radically changed as coal and nuclear plants have been shut down. Nondispatchable wind and solar cannot make up that loss for obvious reasons. The only way you can get through the night (no sun, usually no wind) is with huge energy storage projects fed by solar and wind during the day.
Wouldn’t it be ironic to build gigantic battery banks to store solar and wind power during the day, then use those same batteries to charge your truck batteries at night?
This whole fetish for “decarbonization” is utterly ridiculous. It’s predicated on “carbon is evil and will destroy mankind” which is patently false. The entire solar, wind, and EV wet dream is based on the “carbon is evil” premise. I can’t believe we are upending our entire energy and transportation infrastructure to the tune of trillions of dollars for no net benefit.
When I was growing up during the thirties, I saw many electric delivery trucks in Washington, DC. Railway Express and one of the large department stores used them. I remember they had non-inflatable flat rubber tires. As the suburbs grew out from the city, I guess they became less useful.
What is old is new again!......................
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