New project looks into electric truck viability

Doubts remain concerning vehicle cost, limited mileage range, payloads and the lack of a UK-wide charging network.

But as 44-tonne trucks are responsible for 5% of the UK’s greenhouse gases, it is generally agreed that major work is needed to cut down the noxious emissions from commercial vehicles.

Now Project Jolt (Joint Operator Logistics Trial) has been launched and involves academia working with industry to understand how diesel trucks can be replaced with zero emission ones. The initiative sees 15 fleet operators, four truck manufacturers, several technology providers and two universities collaborate to answer the question: ‘how can the move to net zero be derisked?’

The consortium is being led by Professor David Cebon of the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight. He said: “We are sharing trucks and chargers on a three-month basis and testing a range of logistics operations. We are pooling the anonymised data to develop new sustainable models of working. By sharing the data in this way, we maximise the learning. By sharing the resources, we minimise the costs for everyone involved.”

For some journeys, there is no issue as eHGVs can be substituted for their diesel equivalents. The problems are ones of energy supply and the cost of the vehicle. However, for longer distances, weight constrained loads and flexible working, eHGVs experience viability difficulties around payload, range, charging time and electricity supply.

These have the potential to impose a financial impact on the operations or to derail the energy transition altogether.

Project Jolt is gathering multiple data on a spectrum of journeys and this information will be used to forecast the impact of eHGVs and the steps required to reduce it.

The initiative is also looking at battery health and degradation. With the battery being a large weight and financial component of the truck, its performance will affect the residual value.

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