Right now, Volvo has five electric trucks in southern California, with another three soon to arrive. They are more expensive than traditional trucks that run on the internal combustion engine and that run on diesel fuel. But over time, they will pay for themselves. Not only do they not use fuel, but they also do not have as many components and thus, they cost less to maintain.
The batteries that run those electric trucks are also getting better and cheaper. The newest lithium-ion batteries have 20% more density, allowing the trucks to go at least 150 miles in a given day without having to be recharged. In comparison, long haul electric trucks can go at least 300 miles while cars can travel at least 60 miles.
The trend can’t happen quickly enough. The transportation and electricity sectors account for more than half of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. And in 2016, CO2 concentration levels had surpassed the 400 parts per million threshold, which is the red line where climate scientists say that the ecological impacts of warming are irreversible. Thesays that they are at 416 parts per million as of May 2020.
“There are the same parallels as solar, which is a lot of interaction between the government and the private sector to drive this forward and gain scale,” says Bob Stojanovic, director of electric vehicle infrastructure North America at ABB, which is creating the software programs and the hardware to build out the needed charging infrastructure. “Once this is achieved, then those incentives are not needed. The cost will come down because of the scale. And it is self-perpetuating.
So, it is not as easy as just building the trucks and creating the charging stations. That said, Stojanovic has an upbeat view of market potential: the electric vehicle segment, generally, is growing at 35% a year, he says, which has the potential to double once the technology is proven and is scalable.
Lost jobs.