Penny-pinching is often associated with those unwilling to part with their money. But trucking fleets are also penny-pinchers; they break down costs looking for any edge that can positively impact their bottom line to compete in an industry with razor-thin margins.
So it’s no surprise that electric trucks, in the right application, are being viewed positively by fleets looking to rid themselves of high and wildly fluctuating diesel fuel prices. A recent study, however, suggests that the total cost of ownership (TCO) associated with electric vehicles may not provide the big benefits fleets expect.
The study was published in Environmental Science & Technology and authored by Georgia Institute of Technology researchers Dong-Yeon Lee, from the Georgia Tech School of Environmental Engineering; Valerie M. Thomas, from the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and School of Public Policy; and Marilyn A. Brown, from the School of Public Policy,
After testing a 2011 Smith Newton model with a GVW of 7,490 lbs., curb weight of 4,260 lbs., and payload of 3,230 lbs. powered by a 120-kW electric motor against a 2006 Freightliner package delivery truck with a Cummins engine with a GVW of 7,260 lbs., curb weight of 4,400 lbs., and payload of 2,860 lbs., the researchers determined fleets would see an energy efficiency improvement with the electric truck but perhaps not a TCO advantage.
“The electric truck is relatively more cost-effective,” the authors note. “However, the cost-competitiveness of the electric truck is expected to diminish in drive cycles with higher average speed…furthermore, battery replacement along with EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment, a.k.a. charging equipment) will greatly affect the relative TCO of the electric truck.
“All in all, the lifecycle energy use and GHG emissions of the electric truck are lower than that of the diesel truck, particularly for the frequent stop and low average speed drive cycles,” summed up the authors, although they concluded that “the total cost of ownership of the electric and diesel trucks are similar.”
But several technological advances may eventually tip the TCO consideration in favor of the electric truck. Among these is an embedded electrical system that charges vehicles along their route. It is said to eliminate costly downtime for vehicle charging and also reduces infrastructure costs. According to Boston-based Olev Technologies, this could be good for vehicles with regular routes such as buses, port truck operations and local delivery fleets.
“The philosophy behind the system is to be able to transmit power to vehicles during normal operation on U.S. roads,” says Roger V. Burns Jr., vice president of engineering. “There is no direct path for electricity flow to the vehicle, only the magnetic field, which is inherently safer.”
ON-THE-GO CHARGING
Olev’s system, which was developed at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, uses a “conductive loop” set into the roadbed that delivers electricity to and only when an equipped electric vehicle passes overhead. The loops, or cables, are each about 17 ft. in length. A matching coil “receiver” on the underside of the vehicle collects the electricity and transfers it to onboard batteries.
“You have to be in the lane, but it’s fairly tolerant of lane variation,” says Burns. “The sweet spot is about 8 in., 4 in. on either side.
“If a vehicle is going very slowly and not using much electricity, it might actually be powering the vehicle and charging the battery at the same time,” Burns points out. Otherwise, the power is used to charge the battery.
Producing about 100 kWh of power, the system is capable of generating about 120 hp., enough to power many vehicles, including buses and delivery vehicles. Battery size factors into this part of the equation, Burns notes, but the Olev system is powerful enough to charge drayage trucks.
“Typically, what we’re looking at is 35- to 40-ft. buses, up to 60-ft. articulated buses, and drayage trucks up to 85,000 lbs.,” Burns says. “For a short route, for instance, a container route in California running 5 mi., it’s an excellent fit. We’ve looked at our system for yard trucks and rubber-tired gantry cranes [used in port operations].”
Although this type of system is not for every operation, Burns says that medium-duty truck fleets that run a regular route could see advantages. By installing the system at delivery points along the route, vehicles can be charged as they go rather than sitting for eight hours overnight to charge. This opens up the potential to increase the daily utilization of that vehicle.
“For instance, there is a bus in Boston that stops for seven minutes at a particular stop, and that charging time is enough to power it for 15 minutes to get it to its next stop,” Burns notes.
Charging on the go is not a new idea. The Volvo Group in Europe is working on a similar system. “In city traffic, there are currently various solutions and we are researching many others. We have field tests in progress where our plug-in buses are equipped with a battery that can be charged quickly when the buses are at bus stops,” says Mats Alaküla, Volvo Group’s expert on electric vehicles and a professor at Lund University.
DRIVER-FRIENDLY
But asking a truck driver to plug in his truck at each stop—even if such capabilities existed—may be too much given driving limits and delivery schedules. Add to that a commercial vehicle making infrequent stops and that type of system may be too impractical for freight hauling.
Instead, Volvo is testing the installation of power lines right into the surface of the road. A “current collector” will be located on the truck to collect the electricity. The initiative is part of a Swedish research project assisted by the Swedish Energy Agency. It also includes the cooperation of the Swedish Transport Administration, Vattenfall, several universities, vehicle manufacturers, and suppliers, Volvo says.
“With this method, electric vehicles could be continuously supplied with power without carrying large batteries,” says Alaküla. “The power line will be built in sections, and one section is only live as the truck passes.”
The latest step forward in this technology follows the successful test of the system on a Volvo test track in Hallered, outside Gothenburg, Sweden.
“We are currently testing how to connect the electricity from the road to the truck. The electricity flows into a water-cooled heating element with similar power requirements as an electricity-driven truck,” says Richard Sebestyen, who is the project manager at Volvo Group Trucks Technology, which is the Volvo Group’s research and development division.
THE SPONGE SOLUTION
Before this technology can become a reality, though, Alaküla notes that much work must be completed, including technical improvement of the current collector, electric motor and the control systems required, not to mention road construction to install the power lines.
“If we are to succeed in creating sustainable transport systems, we must invest significantly in research now,” says Alaküla. “I am convinced that we will find a cost-efficient way to supply electricity to vehicles in long-distance traffic, and we have already come a long way in our research.”
Others, however, see a different way to extract value from electric vehicles. If the truck can earn money for a fleet even when parked overnight—doing essentially nothing—the value of that vehicle would most certainly increase for any fleet.
Electric truck makers like Smith Electric Vehicles are placing their bets on what’s called “vehicle-to-grid” or “V2G” technology. “This technology potentially creates another revenue stream for all-electric trucks, which would significantly improve their ROI (return on investment),” says CEO Bryan Hansel. “This could change the face of the medium-duty potential for all-electric trucks because any fleet could attach such [V2G] revenue to their bottom line.”
Willett Kempton, an associate professor of marine policy at the University of Delaware, explains in an article in Science Daily that when a vehicle is in V2G mode, its battery charge goes up or down depending on the needs of the electrical grid operator, which sometimes must store surplus power and other times requires extra power to respond to surges in usage.
Such power management is called “frequency regulation” in electric utility circles and describes the process of “balancing” electricity supply and demand on a second-by-second basis.
The ability of the V2G battery system to act like a “sponge,” in Kempton’s words, offers electrical utilities a potentially less costly way to manage electrical energy flow instead of spending millions of dollars for generating stations to help balance the grid. Under this scenario, the utility companies can instead use all-electric vehicles—cars and trucks alike. Kempton estimates the value for utilities could be up to $4,000 a year for such V2G service.
It’s the ability to make vehicles pay even when they are not in operation that convinced the U.S. Dept. of Defense (DOD) to initiate a $20-million test project back in January. DOD purchased a fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) that incorporated V2G technology to see if higher upfront costs relative to conventional petroleum-powered equipment can be offset in the long run.
STORAGE UNITS
Camron Gorguinpour, special assistant to the assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics, says that DOD expects to lease as many as 500 EVs at six different installations this year. Los Angeles Air Force Base will be the first federal facility to replace everything from passenger sedans to shuttle buses with all-electric models.
DOD says it expects not only to use all-electric cars and trucks to fulfill a variety of daily service tasks, but also to use them when not in operation as “re-supply points.” This provides stability to stressed electrical grids at times of peak demand and, in the process, generates a financial return for the government.
“It’s about being able to deliver electricity on demand. It will be a sizable amount of power when all of the vehicles are aggregated together,” Gorguinpour says. “The three main criteria we’re focused on are reducing fleet expense, enhancing mission capabilities, and meeting our energy-efficiency goals. [What] we have identified is a path forward that will allow us to bring electric vehicles into our fleet that are less costly than conventional vehicles.”
TEST CASE
The University of Delaware and NRG Energy began work in September 2011 to commercialize V2G technology, rolling out a prototype V2G system in February 2012 that’s been installed on vehicles and now actively helping manage power demand.
“This demonstrates that EVs can provide both mobility and stationary power while helping to make the grid more resilient and ultimately generating revenue for electric vehicle owners,” explains Denise Wilson, NRG Energy’s executive vice president.
“For grid operators, [V2G] technology serves as an innovative new approach to energy storage,” she says. “It has the potential to balance the power provided by intermittent renewable resources such as wind and solar. Energy storage, such as large-scale batteries or those in a fleet of vehicles, can take the wind’s power generated at night and store it to use when demand is higher.”
The theory is that receiving payment for V2G services while electric trucks are off-duty, combined with the fuel savings when they are working, will vastly beef up the ROI calculations for such alternatively powered equipment.
For example, AMP Holdings notes that its E-Truck all-electric step van can generate fuel and maintenance savings of nearly $100,000 per vehicle over a 10-year period compared to a diesel-fired model. Its all-electric system incorporates a dual-motor system that produces 250 kW with a total energy storage system of 100 kWh that can push the 1,000-cu.-ft. vehicle 100 mi. on a single charge.
Smith Electric’s Hansel adds that several of his company’s Newton model medium-duty electric trucks are expected to be upfitted with V2G technology soon in order to allow for the “bidirectional” flow.
“Typically, all-electric trucks feature a ‘unidirectional’ system, so energy can only recharge their batteries,” he explains. “A bidirectional system allows the batteries to be both recharged and to discharge energy to the electrical grid to which they are plugged into.”
He notes that electric utilities typically must invest in what he termed “peaker plants,” which act as energy storage systems to help stabilize energy levels during peak demand periods. Using the battery systems of off-duty electric vehicles, however, would alleviate the need for these plants while allowing EV owners to generate revenue even when their equipment is not in operation.
“Just 10 of our trucks combined can offer one megawatt of power—and that’s a lot,” Hansel says. “Stabilizing energy levels doesn’t require much power. This isn’t a case where the truck batteries would be drained; on the contrary, under the terms of such agreements, whatever power is used must be replaced, so the vehicles would be at full charge when their duty cycle begins.”
Boulder Electric Vehicle and Coritech Services are also working to make V2G technology a profitable reality for electric vehicle owners. The companies recently rolled out one of the first commercially available V2G-equipped electric trucks equipped with a lithium 72 kWh battery pack and a Coritech 60 kW fast charger system. According to both companies, current demonstrations are seeing charger rates of 150 amps during charge or discharge on the 360V nominal battery pack.
“We recognize the future importance of V2G in strengthening the value proposition of the electric vehicle, and we now offer a turnkey solution that is ready for immediate deployment,” says Carter Brown, chief executive officer of Boulder EV. “V2G is one of the key applications of smart grid technologies which will help realize the economic value of mass deployment of electric vehicles.”
UP ABOVE
And yet others are taking a look back to see the future of electric trucks. European truck maker Scania, along with Siemens, officially announced earlier this year that they would work together on a truck that uses a pantograph to collect electricity. The two companies have been working on the project since 2012.
Much like commuter trains used in many parts of this country, Scania’s technology uses a pantograph mounted to the roof of the truck cab to collect power from a catenary system overhead. It is a concept that has been used for decades on trains and trolley cars and has been suggested as the perfect technology for trucking many times since.
“Full-scale demonstration of electrified road sections can quickly become a reality through this partnership,” says Henrik Henriksson, executive vice president and head of Scania’s sales and marketing. “Fuel savings made possible by electrification are huge, and this project is a foundation stone for fossil-free road transport.”
But whether it is pantographs, cables buried in the roadway, or vehicles storing energy for utility companies, technological advances are allowing electric truck manufacturers to charge ahead knowing, perhaps for the first time with certainty, that a profitable future exists.
