Electrification presents major uncertainties for HGV fleet operators, but the successful process undertaken by electric buses could be a crucial resource.
There are several barriers when it comes to the market for electric HGVs (eHGVs), first and foremost the fact that diesel vehicles remain significantly cheaper than greener alternatives.
This leads to market uncertainty: how can operators be sure that electrification is the right route?
Speaking on a panel at Solar Media’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure and Energy Summit in London, Neil Durno, director of market development for commercial fleets at Voltempo, said that many operators are unclear about the real-world operational costs of an eHGV fleet—beyond awareness that it will be high.
Voltempo’s focus is on the infrastructure that will support eHGV charging. It was awarded just under £50 million via the government’s zero-emission HGV and infrastructure demonstrator (ZEHID) programme.
Durno was joined by representatives from two other members of the consortia involved in the programme, Chris Welch, managing director of the Welch Group and Louis Jones, EV & connected services director at DAF Trucks Limited.
Jones pointed out the difference between charging an electric car and an eHGV: the public infrastructure currently available does not support the high power requirements of eHGVs, and even if it could, HGV fleets cannot take unplanned stops along a route. As such, where and when an eHGV will charge has to be strictly accounted for across depot, public and destination locations.
Most of the fleet’s charging will take place at the depot, and this is where collaboration could become key. Not only does shared infrastructure reduce upfront and maintenance costs, but also establishes more effective use.
Welch said that often, the high-power chargers at bus depots are “screaming out for utilisation” and the bus fleets only use about 10% of onsite infrastructure at any given time. On both sides of the equation, there are commercial gains available for other heavy vehicle fleets providing a further 75% utilisation of installed assets.
Drawing on his experience working at SSE, helping to enable the electrification of a Glaswegian bus fleet, Durno said that the bus industry learnt quickly that sharing assets works, that there is “just upside benefit from the business case”. The model that eHGV fleets should follow is sharing depot infrastructure, not least because of the difficulty associated with getting a grid connection. Aggregation facilitates more vehicles at a lower cost; “it is just efficient investment”.
