Are Electric Trucks REALLY The Future?!

A few weeks ago we leapt at the chance to not only fulfil a childhood dream of driving big trucks on a massive test track, but to answer a serious question. Is it really possible for big HGVS, or heavy goods vehicles, to go electric?! Commercial vehicles like lorries and HGVs, travel roughly five times the annual mileage of passenger cars meaning the potential for improved air quality through electrification is HUGE.

However, the benefits extend beyond zero tailpipe emissions. The allure of low total cost of ownership is a major draw for commercial fleet operators who strive for maximum profitability and efficient operations. While electric vehicles are known for their efficiency, we wanted to delve deeper: Do electric lorries truly translate to lower operating costs? Are they truly capable of handling the demands of today's trucking industry? To answer those questions, we visited Millbrook to put those questions to our friends at Mercedes eTrucks. @EverythingElectricShow @fullychargedshow @MercedesBenz @DaimlerTruck_AG

00:00 Big trucks on the track!
01:34 Robert has a go...
03:24 Designing from the ground up
04:45 Range?
06:44 Max Power!
08:50 Lower total cost?!
09:28 Solar depots!
10:22 Charging?!
12:58 Mountain Driving!
14:18 A little landscaping...
14:51 The Verdict!

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Everything Electric NORTH, Yorkshire Event Centre - 24th, 25th & 26th May

Everything Electric CANADA - Vancouver Convention Centre - 6th, 7th & 8th September

Everything Electric SOUTH - Farnborough International - 11th, 12th & 13th October

Everything Electric EUROPE - RAI Amsterdam - Date Announcement Imminent

[philthewriter]

17 years ago I got sent to a trade show as a fresh-faced journalist. My editor spotted Robert, recognised him, and demanded that I go and interview him. I didn't have any questions, or any idea of what to talk about, so said hello, asked if he had 10 minutes to talk, and we had a chat about cars, and surprisingly EVs, instead of anything that would be of any use for my magazine. Good to see Robert still following his passion all these years later - an incredibly nice, helpful and humble chap.

[domramsey]

Imogen & Robert make a great presenting team. Imogen brings the brains, Bobby brings the sex appeal. What more could you want?

[jdthompson]

Where Robert went off the road will now be known as Kryten corner 🤖

[Hybridog]

One charging station solution that is already available is battery storage/buffers at the charge station. One company makes chargers that have large batteries built-in and they only need a standard capacity electric service connection. The batteries charge up when the unit is not in use, then when a car or truck arrrives they have high capcity, high speed charging available via the battery and don't need a huge high current power service connection. This concept can be used in many configurations and with big enough batteries would work well for large truck/lorry charging as well. The negative nellies seem to think nothing is changing and improvements are somehow not being made and will never be made. EVERYTHING is changing and fast. Maybe do some reading and watch some videos to learn how things are moving forward re the electrification of everything.

[martindoll]

I was a hobby truck-driver for some time and started to ask myself, why do all those parked trailers not have solar-panels on their roof. During weekends you see massive amounts of trailers parked around distribution centers. Imagine how much square meters of solar panels that would give you to charge semi-trucks. And during driving they could add power to the battery packs and/or provide power to the cooling unit (now all burning diesel), for transporting cooled goods. So, I’m challenging the trailer manufacturing industry to come with such a solution.

[Ben-gmlo]

Thanks team, another cracking look at new EV innovation. Can I make one comment on the script though?
While it is super cuddly news that electric drive gives the drivers a lovely quiet, smooth ride, I don't think the average non-commercial motorist really understands commercial driving or gives a stuff about their driver's comfort. What might resonate more with us peon non-professional drivers is to highlight that smooth and quiet has a very real impact on reduced driver fatigue. This brings a safety improvement through lower fatigue and better long-term driver health. That might meet with more general approval than just the fluffy notion that commercial drivers have a 'lovely drive'.
Just a thought. Keep up the good work and thank you Robert for continuing to act as the joker in the pack.

[themogget]

For certain applications, the total cost of ownership is everything. Companies will jump through hoops and build their own infrastructure when they see it saves money in a surprisingly short long-run.

[Stephen-Jones]

Good to see Robert has been practicing his landscaping skills again 🤣 remind me not to stand on a grass verge when he's in a lorry at the next Fully Charged event 😜

[justin_time]

If for nothing else, they seem like they would be great rigs for training vehicles to be able to give new drivers a chance to focus on trailer turning management before having to wrestle with gear shifts and such. A softer start to help people learn more easily. The future looks bright!

[Petelmrg]

We shouldn't judge these by todays standard - the pace of ev, battery and charging technology will soon be solving the shortcomings we see here.

[gilletphilippe]

We've got retrofited ev trucks here in Oz and they use 2 large battery packs in place of the original diesel tank's that are swapped in designated location for long distance and time for swapping is 10min.

[Duffman]

I would love to see you come to Canada and check out what Edison Motors is doing with their retrofits. You would love the projects they have going on right now!

[racingtogreen]

So exciting to see. One of the main benefits are that in general, I'd guess that commercial truck trips are fairly static in many cases, so they can relatively easily determine if an EV Truck makes sense or doesn't. Eliminating the Transmission must be HUGE. And we all get the benefit of cleaner air!

[TheRealKaiProton]

I used to work in Automotive industry, with components, and something they loved was returnable boxes,
so if the trucks had removable batteries, and rolled up at an authorized changer, perhaps where the haulage companies would pay to store batteries, then have an attendant remove the old, stick it on charge, and insert a new one, that was already fully charged, that could make the turn around time 10mins instead of 10hours, ,
they could mod the trailers to have a full roof of solar panels that link back to the truck too, charge while driving..
and of course, as the Merc engineer eluded to, its all about horses for courses, if the e-truck suits the need of the company.
Ive always seen videos bad mouthing e-trucks because of the weight constraints, but this seems like something hopeful for the future.

[waynecartwright]

I went on my first electric bus from the Oxford park and ride, well impressed.

[murdoch]

I think many drivers drive an hour or so and then take 15 min break and then 30 min break later in the day with in the time limits, its what I've seen from truckers in Europe on youtube atleast, and if they can charge both times a little bit that should cover it, that would also likely mean you can avoid going 100% most of the time.
Many companies will perhaps offer charging while loading and unloading, if you can get 2 - 4 short 5 - 10 minute fill ups for a little fee or maybe even for free and everyone doing that eventually...
I see so many posibilities with electric trucks and cars its exciting...
So much focus on the negative, lately its been so much crap about reduced sales volumes and stuff and how this and that company struggle with their EV's, in many cases its not because of poor demand but because either they have just pushed out too much trying to complete or just not delivered a good enough product.
My money would still go to Hyundai and KIA for an EV, some BMW offerings looking tempting too but not see much coverage of them, only like one or two models when they have a ton of different models.

[waynethefridgemanosborne]

Was very impressed with the truck at everything electric show in Sydney with the interchangeable batterys. Don't worry Robert it will grow back lol . Keep smiling everyone

[garrygrant]

There is a company who bought 2 elctric trucks . The first problem was they were double the price of new diesel trucks . The second problem was the area they cover is 40%less and they needed recharging during there shift so the company that paid for them tried every thing they could do to max there potential . But they soon found out there range didn't match the advertised range by quite a way offthen the down timeto charge during the day after 6monthes the truck company ended up selling them and lost a shed load of money thrvery high purcprice depreciation andnot being able to do what there diesels could do . They tried to get there drivers to charge them up during the drivers break driving hours but the drivers ended up threatening to leave the company as they were sitting idle far to long . The owners said in the article that ìt had been an unmitigated disaster and went back to diesel

[christill]

These are my favourite FC videos. I don’t remember one about EV coaches though. That seems to be a video topic long overdue being tackled.

[keithwilson]

In Australia they have Converted Semis and New Semis that just Forklift the Battery out on stops along a Highway. 5 Minutes to exchange the Battery..