Fraunhofer Institute:

Electric trucks soon to be competitive according to study

According to the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, electric trucks in heavy goods vehicles should be competitive in just a few years. They will benefit "from rapidly falling costs for batteries and fuel cells". 

Battery trucks in particular are likely to "achieve techno-economic competitiveness with today's diesel trucks for most applications in the foreseeable future", said study author Steffen Link. The transformation will cost a lot of money.

According to current knowledge, the battery drive is the cheapest and "most promising technology for achieving at least the cost level of today's diesel trucks" in many applications. Range and payload are already sufficient for most logistics applications.

Battery trucks are also available on the market in large quantities more quickly than fuel cell trucks. The German researchers recommend that industry and politicians should therefore quickly build up production capacities and a nationwide charging network, expand the power grid and adapt regulations.

Falling costs
In view of the cost trend for key components, the institute expects that "battery system costs will soon fall below 200 EUR/kWh and could drop to 100 EUR/kWh in the late 2040s".

The costs for fuel cell systems are likely to "fall significantly - to around EUR 150/kW - in the late 2030s". However, fuel cell trucks could become necessary as a supplement for areas that are difficult to electrify or for special transportation. Funding for their development therefore seems appropriate.