Green truck technologies wanted! A cost-optimised drive train portfolio for Germany

Autor*innen: Florian Heining, Julius Jöhrens, Michel Allekotte, Hinrich Helms

We compare the potential of various electric truck drive technologies in terms of total cost of ownership for the year 2030. For each technology we calculate the fleet-wide truck mileage where the alternative technology shows a cost advantage over diesel trucks (“economic potential”). Second, we determine the technology with the lowest cost for each mission profile, i.e. a cost-optimized technology mix for trucking in Germany in 2030. Battery electric trucks show the lowest cost for the major share of applications, while catenary trucks can be competitive on long routes. The identified economic potential for fuel cell trucks is only marginal.