In determining the best solution to sustainability issues with trucking, several types of trucks, including diesel, battery-electric, biofuel, and hydrogen fuel cell trucks, were all considered. Battery-electric vehicles perform better than diesel trucks in almost all aspects, including cost and CO2 emissions.
The average cost for a new diesel class 8 semi-truck is $125,000, while comparable electric trucks cost approximately $150,000.[1]Commercial Carrier Journal. “What Does a Class 8 Truck Really Cost?,” January 25, 2016. www.ccjdigital.com/business/article/14932561/what-does-a-class-8-truck-really-cost.[2]Tesla Semi. “Tesla Semi.” Accessed November 19, 2021. https://www.tesla.com/semi. Despite these higher upfront costs, electric trucks are still likely to be attractive to purchasers. This is primarily because electric trucks have overall lower operating costs, due to lower energy costs from electricity consumption.[3]Nadel, Steven, and Eric Junga. “Electrifying Trucks: From Delivery Vans to Buses to 18-Wheelers,” n.d., 55. www.aceee.org/white-paper/electrifying-trucks-delivery-vans-buses-18 Taking fuel costs into account, the average lifetime cost of a diesel truck was estimated at $838,000, while the lifetime cost of an electric truck was estimated at $612,000 (click for calculation). This calculation assumed similar maintenance costs and lifespans, and accounted for differences in upfront and fuel costs. The price of an electric battery truck is also expected to decrease over time as battery cost falls.[4]Busch, Chris, James Fine, and Amanda Myers. “Clean Trucks, Big Bucks.” Energy Innovation Policy & Technology LLC. Environmental Defense Fund., June 17, 2020. … Continue reading The overall lower cost of ownership therefore makes purchasing an electric truck attractive to truck owners despite the slightly higher initial investment.
Figure 1 demonstrates the cost benefits provided by switching to electric vehicles.
Source: Energy Innovation and Environmental Defense Fund[5]Busch, Chris, James Fine, and Amanda Myers. “Clean Trucks, Big Bucks.” Energy Innovation Policy & Technology LLC. Environmental Defense Fund., June 17, 2020. … Continue reading
Electric trucks were also shown to be more economically and logistically viable than hydrogen powered trucks, based on the cost of converting the fleet of existing diesel trucks. While there are only 48 hydrogen fueling stations in the U.S, there is an existing network of 45,387 electric charging stations.[6]“Alternative Fuels Data Center: Alternative Fueling Station Locator.” Accessed November 20, 2021. www.afdc.energy.gov/stations#/find/nearest?fuel=ELEC&country=US. The necessary infrastructure investment required to convert the entire truck fleet into hydrogen would therefore be prohibitive (see Why Not Alternates for details), and electric trucks were determined to be the lower cost option.
Emissions
Battery-electric trucks take in electricity from the grid. According to an analysis by Georgia Tech researchers, even when running on electricity from a grid whose energy sources include fossil fuels, they yield 40% lower greenhouse gas emissions than diesel trucks on average.[7]Lee, Dong-Yeon, Valerie M. Thomas, and Marilyn A. Brown. “Electric Urban Delivery Trucks: Energy Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Cost-Effectiveness.” Environmental Science & Technology 47, … Continue reading
In another case study analysis of food delivery trucks in New York City, battery-electric trucks emitted approximately 30% less Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) than Diesel trucks.[8]Elangovan, Raghul, Ondrea Kanwhen, Ziqian Dong, Ahmed Mohamed, and Roberto Rojas-Cessa. “Comparative Analysis of Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emission of Diesel and Electric Trucks for Food … Continue reading
However, to fully alleviate GHG emissions, the proposed solution operates on the assumption that U.S. electric grids will source their energy from more renewable sources as grid capacity expands to support increasing battery-electric vehicle use (see Electric Grid Expansion for more details on how this will be ensured). In this case, the emissions from running a battery-electric vehicle are negligible, and the main emissions concern for a battery-electric truck’s lifecycle is the emissions from the battery’s production (see Electric Battery Concerns).
While the primary motivation for converting freight trucking to electric vehicles was reduction of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, other air pollutants were considered as well. Electric vehicles perform comparably or favorably to diesel trucks for NOx, Particulate Matter (PMs, including PM-10s and PM-2.5), CO, and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).
| NOx (grams/mile) | PMs (grams/mile) | CO (grams/mile) | VOC (grams/mile) | |
| Diesel[9]U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Average In-Use Emissions from Heavy Duty Trucks – Emission Facts,” 2008. … Continue reading | 8.613 | 0.421 | 2.311 | 0.447 |
| Electric-battery[10]Morrison, Geoff, et al. “Life-Cycle Emissions and Costs of Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles in Colorado Final Report.” The Cadmus Group LLC, 30 June 2019, … Continue reading | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
Table 1 shows the lifecycle emissions of these air pollutants for both diesel and electric trucks. Lifecycle emissions are the total emissions produced by a truck over its lifetime, from its initial stages of production to its manufacturing and time on the road, until the end of its use phase.[11]“LCA – Life Cycle Assessment of Vehicle Emissions.” World Auto Steel Association, accessed 20 Nov. 2020, … Continue reading Electric-battery trucks produce significantly lower NOx, CO, and VOC emissions than diesel, and produce comparable PM emissions. This data, combined with significant GHG reduction and economic feasibility, supports the proposed electric-vehicle solution.
Through these comparisons of cost and emissions, battery-electric vehicles were determined to be the best long-term solution for trucking transportation.
References
