Battery electric commercial vehicles (BEVs) are crucial for protecting the climate. Unlike diesel vehicles, BEVs emit no local carbon dioxide and, virtue of their high energy efficiency, make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions even where green electricity is not yet available. However, batteries are expensive, which in turn drives up the purchase price. Given that the transport industry is already struggling with high costs, this represents a significant financial hurdle for many companies.
Is e-mobility only an option for transport companies who are economically stable and can make investments easily? “This may be true early on for conventional models of buying the truck outright,” counters Andreas Kammel, Vice President Alternative Drivetrains in the TRATON GROUP. “But when going by the total cost of ownership (TCO), which includes running costs, operators of battery-electric truck or bus fleets will eventually pay less, not more. The decisive factor for economic efficiency is that commercial vehicles are often intensively used capital goods for which fuel costs significantly exceed the purchase price over their entire service life.”
“In freight transport, the TCO is generally dominated by operational expenses: energy cost, driver cost, and – to a lesser extent – maintenance costs. Crucially, electricity is cheaper than diesel even when accounting for the cost of charging, which results in a growing cost advantage over time, especially so in intensively used applications such as haulage.” explains Kammel.
Battery-electric drivetrains offer significant potential for energy cost savings
So, what is ultimately motivating customers to transition to an electric fleet? Primarily economic concerns, in addition to operational sustainability goals and technological progress in battery range and energy density, analyses Stefan Sahlmann, Vice President EV Solutions & Activation at Navistar and previously Vice President, Head of MAN Transport Solutions at MAN Truck & Bus. “Our customers recognize there is a significant cost-saving potential of this new technology. For example, a customer from the US state of Tennessee recently told me that he is saving more than 50% of his monthly energy costs just by operating the new full-electric IC school bus compared to the previous conventional school bus.”
SOURCE: Traton
