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I'm curious how this will affect trucking productivity. Drivers need to be in their vehicle to be making money. Most trucks, I imagine, have a range of about

I'm curious how this will affect trucking productivity. Drivers need to be in their vehicle to be making money. Most trucks, I imagine, have a range of about 300 miles. A 60 mile range is very short. Since recharging could take hours(??) what is the remedy? Can these batteries be swapped? Does the maintenance cost outweigh the productivity cost?

rgacote 9y ago
60 miles is practical when both warehouse and delivery locations are within city limits.
- larrydag 9y ago
  Is it? It takes 5-10 minutes to refuel a diesel. What is the equivalent downtime between types of trucks?
  - dsfyu404ed 9y ago
    As long as your battery lasts the work day it's not a problem. Think of it like an electric fork lift.
  - dx034 9y ago
    Most delivery vehicles work 8am-6pm. Supermarket deliveries work with other schedules but also just for a few hours per day. That gives 14 hours charging window with (at least partly) low energy costs. For trucks that are not used a lot, this solution could end up cheaper because the battery can be used profitably while the truck is waiting.
Loic 9y ago
For local delivery, 60 miles is good enough. DHL (see other comment) is providing 80 miles range on his truck and it is widely used by the German Post which has depot inside the cities. It is of course not adapted if your depot is outside of the city and you need first to drive 20 miles to reach the city and deliver and drive back. This is the current state for parcel delivery with relatively large parcel hubs a bit outside of the cities. But just doubling the range to 140/150 miles should be good enough.
brixon 9y ago
Semi-Trucks can go over 1000 miles between fill ups. Current technology might work for local deliveries, but will be hard pressed to replace long haul trucks.
- dx034 9y ago
  Pollution is a big problem in many cities and ecommerce has massively increased the number of delivery vehicles. Replacing short-haul trucks with electric vehicles can already go a long way in reducing emissions. For long-haul semis, batteries would likely have to be swapped. That way you can exchange batteries during mandatory breaks so that you only need 4hrs capacity. Batteries can then be charged when prices are lowest and used as storage. I'm just not sure where breakeven would be in that case. Assuming you need several battery packs per truck, initial costs would be too high for most logistics companies. Could maybe work if batteries are owned by utilities and only rented out for the duration of a trip. That would ensure they're used properly while not driven.
Sinnesloschen 9y ago
There are two charging options regular DC and quick charge which takes about an hour. Also this is only the beginning of production. "Daimler said it's only planning on producing 500 trucks in the next year, but it intends to start mass-producing the trucks in 2019". “The company will expand its electric truck production as lower cost, longer-range batteries become available within two to three years,” These trucks would probably be used for last mile deliveries in urban areas.
Brakenshire 9y ago
Just from the figures provided, if you're using close to the range each day, it's €3500 a year in savings, one daily recharge cycle up to €7000 a year, two recharge cycles up to €10500 a year. And then perhaps reduced maintenance on top. It does seem quite significant if the capital and battery replacement costs aren't too high. I also wonder whether logistics companies can fit charging into their existing operations; delivery vehicles have to come back to a depot once they are empty, and there must be a period of downtime while the van is being filled. These companies also know the distances each van has to travel to deliver it's combination of packages, in effect you have the information to eliminate range anxiety. You could have a percentage of your fleet electric, and put them on routes which were high density and near the depot. You could then be confident that they will return to depot with charge to spare, and recharge them at the loading bays while waiting in the normal course of operations. This truck can charge fully in an hour, so assuming a half hour turnaround time for reloading, there would be no downtime on a route thirty miles or less. As the range and the speed of charging increase, the percentage of the fleet which you could switch to electric would increase.
- louhike 9y ago
  Do you mean 3500€ by "E3500" ? If it's hard to put the euro symbol with your keyboard, try maybe to write 3500 euros, I had to stop to understand what you meant.
  - Brakenshire 9y ago
    I'll copy and paste your Euro symbol, thanks!
maxerickson 9y ago
I imagine the post office is largely running an experiment to see how they fit into their system 3 trucks is basically 0 trucks.
Retric 9y ago
These trucks could have been built with a 1000 mile range at higher costs. They have a 60 mile range because they drive less than 40 miles every day and just recharge over night. Also, recharging for 30 minutes while loading/unloading can make a large difference to these kinds of trucks. PS: 227$/kwh * 200 kwh = 45,400$ which is a major reason battery packs tend to 1/3 to 1/2 that. However, prices a dropping rapidly and the savings over gas is rather large so expect very long range electric trucks eventually.

rgacote 9y ago

60 miles is practical when both warehouse and delivery locations are within city limits.

larrydag 9y ago
Is it? It takes 5-10 minutes to refuel a diesel. What is the equivalent downtime between types of trucks?
- dsfyu404ed 9y ago
  As long as your battery lasts the work day it's not a problem. Think of it like an electric fork lift.
- dx034 9y ago
  Most delivery vehicles work 8am-6pm. Supermarket deliveries work with other schedules but also just for a few hours per day. That gives 14 hours charging window with (at least partly) low energy costs. For trucks that are not used a lot, this solution could end up cheaper because the battery can be used profitably while the truck is waiting.

Loic 9y ago

For local delivery, 60 miles is good enough. DHL (see other comment) is providing 80 miles range on his truck and it is widely used by the German Post which has depot inside the cities. It is of course not adapted if your depot is outside of the city and you need first to drive 20 miles to reach the city and deliver and drive back. This is the current state for parcel delivery with relatively large parcel hubs a bit outside of the cities. But just doubling the range to 140/150 miles should be good enough.

brixon 9y ago

Semi-Trucks can go over 1000 miles between fill ups. Current technology might work for local deliveries, but will be hard pressed to replace long haul trucks.

dx034 9y ago
Pollution is a big problem in many cities and ecommerce has massively increased the number of delivery vehicles. Replacing short-haul trucks with electric vehicles can already go a long way in reducing emissions. For long-haul semis, batteries would likely have to be swapped. That way you can exchange batteries during mandatory breaks so that you only need 4hrs capacity. Batteries can then be charged when prices are lowest and used as storage. I'm just not sure where breakeven would be in that case. Assuming you need several battery packs per truck, initial costs would be too high for most logistics companies. Could maybe work if batteries are owned by utilities and only rented out for the duration of a trip. That would ensure they're used properly while not driven.

Sinnesloschen 9y ago

There are two charging options regular DC and quick charge which takes about an hour. Also this is only the beginning of production. "Daimler said it's only planning on producing 500 trucks in the next year, but it intends to start mass-producing the trucks in 2019". “The company will expand its electric truck production as lower cost, longer-range batteries become available within two to three years,” These trucks would probably be used for last mile deliveries in urban areas.

Brakenshire 9y ago

Just from the figures provided, if you're using close to the range each day, it's €3500 a year in savings, one daily recharge cycle up to €7000 a year, two recharge cycles up to €10500 a year. And then perhaps reduced maintenance on top. It does seem quite significant if the capital and battery replacement costs aren't too high. I also wonder whether logistics companies can fit charging into their existing operations; delivery vehicles have to come back to a depot once they are empty, and there must be a period of downtime while the van is being filled. These companies also know the distances each van has to travel to deliver it's combination of packages, in effect you have the information to eliminate range anxiety. You could have a percentage of your fleet electric, and put them on routes which were high density and near the depot. You could then be confident that they will return to depot with charge to spare, and recharge them at the loading bays while waiting in the normal course of operations. This truck can charge fully in an hour, so assuming a half hour turnaround time for reloading, there would be no downtime on a route thirty miles or less. As the range and the speed of charging increase, the percentage of the fleet which you could switch to electric would increase.

louhike 9y ago
Do you mean 3500€ by "E3500" ? If it's hard to put the euro symbol with your keyboard, try maybe to write 3500 euros, I had to stop to understand what you meant.
- Brakenshire 9y ago
  I'll copy and paste your Euro symbol, thanks!

maxerickson 9y ago

I imagine the post office is largely running an experiment to see how they fit into their system 3 trucks is basically 0 trucks.

Retric 9y ago

These trucks could have been built with a 1000 mile range at higher costs. They have a 60 mile range because they drive less than 40 miles every day and just recharge over night. Also, recharging for 30 minutes while loading/unloading can make a large difference to these kinds of trucks. PS: 227$/kwh * 200 kwh = 45,400$ which is a major reason battery packs tend to 1/3 to 1/2 that. However, prices a dropping rapidly and the savings over gas is rather large so expect very long range electric trucks eventually.