Assessment of technology configurations for road freight transport

Authors: Julia Pelzeter, Julius Jöhrens, Hinrich Helms, Martin Ruscher, Markus Werner, Wolf-Peter Schill

Stationary charging for battery electric vehicles (SC-BEV) will most likely form the backbone of energy supply for electric trucking, but market ramp-up of this technological configuration faces serious challenges.

This paper establishes some key criteria for a quick and effective decarbonisation in road freight transport. Based on these criteria, we use a semi-quantitative screening analysis
to examine how SC-BEV compare to other technological options. The following “complementary technologies” were considered: dynamic charging (electric road systems), battery swapping, hydrogen use in fuel cell vehicles (H₂-FCEV) or internal combustion engine vehicles (H₂-ICEV), and electric trailers.

The results suggest that SC-BEV will play a central role in zero-emission trucking also in the medium to long term. 

Complementary technologies each address different challenges of SC-BEV, but none of the technologies examined show clear advantages in the overall picture. They also each bring their own challenges.

The Paper is available in German.