Experiences from Battery-Electric Truck Users in Norway

Abstract

This paper presents experiences from pilot-projects with battery-electric trucks in Norway, focusing on purchasing processes, technology, vehicle choices, user experience and various performance aspects. Furthermore, we discuss the electrification potential for battery-electric trucks and compare their total costs of ownership and associated socio-economic costs with internal combustion engine (ICE) trucks for a range of technological maturity scenarios. The results show that experiences have generally been positive but tailoring of use patterns is often required. Furthermore, at their current maturity level, battery-electric trucks could, to some extent, replace typical use of Norwegian ICE trucks, depending on the situation. In terms of costs, we expect that battery-electric light distribution trucks will first become competitive with ICE trucks when technology reaches mass production.World Electric Vehicle Journal 2020, 11, 5 2 of 21 vehicles reach the market. In the fall of 2019, however, four FCHE-trucks, converted from diesel truck chassis', will be phased into operation for a major distributor of groceries in central Norway.The aim of the present paper was to identify and present experiences gained by pilots with BE-trucks in Norway so far. Building on information from pilot users, this work further provides insights into the potential and costs for electrification in both the near term and longer term. This is done by (1) looking at how pilot vehicles are used and what adjustments have had to be made in daily use patterns compared to similar patterns for ICE trucks, (2) analysing user patterns for different vehicle segments, (3) developing cost models that compare total costs of ownership of BE-(and FCHE-) trucks versus ICE-trucks in a number of scenarios for technology maturity, and (4) assessing socio-economic costs of phasing in zero-emission trucks. While the first two analyses thus focus on BE-trucks, in the latter two, it was possible and insightful to also consider FCHE solutions. Understanding user experiences and technological and economic barriers and enablers perceived by operators is crucial for achieving the ambitious uptake of zero-emission vehicles that Norway envisions over the next decade. Particularly for freight vehicles, there seems to be a knowledge gap regarding these topics.

Confidence-Based Ant Colony Optimization for Capacitated Electric Vehicle Routing Problem With Comparison of Different Encoding Schemes

“…In most cases, it will only charge once or twice. This is consistent with real life that a battery-electric truck usually can run three hours with a fully charged battery [51]. If a vehicle charges twice, it can already run nine hours.…”

Hybrid PV Systems and Colocalization of Charging and Filling Stations for Electrification of Road Transport Sector

“…The latter one can be interpreted as vehicle with daily mileage above 300 km is powered by hydrogen, when considering the national statistics. [ 10 ]…”

Roadblocks to Implement Electric Freight Transports : Challenges for Commercial Vehicle Manufacturers and Hauliers

“…In addition, the lack of charging infrastructure is considered to be one of the main challenges inhibiting the implementation of electromobility in road freight transports (Quak et al 2016;Dong et al, 2018;Hovi et al 2019;Melander et.al, 2022). The deployment of charging infrastructure though faces a chicken and egg dilemma (Zink et al, 2020), that affects the pace of the deployment of the infrastructurethe interrelation between the size of the rolling fleet and the size of the network of charging stations, (i.e.…”