Are Electric Trucks REALLY The Future?!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 พ.ค. 2024
- A few weeks ago we leapt at the chance to not only fulfil a childhood dream of driving big trucks on a massive test track, but to answer a serious question. Is it really possible for big HGVS, or heavy goods vehicles, to go electric?! Commercial vehicles like lorries and HGVs, travel roughly five times the annual mileage of passenger cars meaning the potential for improved air quality through electrification is HUGE.
However, the benefits extend beyond zero tailpipe emissions. The allure of low total cost of ownership is a major draw for commercial fleet operators who strive for maximum profitability and efficient operations. While electric vehicles are known for their efficiency, we wanted to delve deeper: Do electric lorries truly translate to lower operating costs? Are they truly capable of handling the demands of today's trucking industry? To answer those questions, we visited Millbrook to put those questions to our friends at Mercedes eTrucks. @EverythingElectricShow @fullychargedshow @MercedesBenz @DaimlerTruck_AG
00:00 Big trucks on the track!
01:34 Robert has a go...
03:24 Designing from the ground up
04:45 Range?
06:44 Max Power!
08:50 Lower total cost?!
09:28 Solar depots!
10:22 Charging?!
12:58 Mountain Driving!
14:18 A little landscaping...
14:51 The Verdict!
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17 years ago I got sent to a trade show as a fresh-faced journalist. My editor spotted Robert, recognised him, and demanded that I go and interview him. I didn't have any questions, or any idea of what to talk about, so said hello, asked if he had 10 minutes to talk, and we had a chat about cars, and surprisingly EVs, instead of anything that would be of any use for my magazine. Good to see Robert still following his passion all these years later - an incredibly nice, helpful and humble chap.
Perfect guy to play Kryten in red dwarf 😁
Imogen & Robert make a great presenting team. Imogen brings the brains, Bobby brings the sex appeal. What more could you want?
Roberts roots need done tho
Has he considered Botox?
Imogen has the brains not to ride in the truck with Robert! 😀
By sex appeal - you are referring to the truck?
Imogen brings the brains and sex appeal, Robert brings grumpy old git appeal (which as a grumpy old git myself I appreciate)
@@michaelrobson3460 He’s spent enough time in latex to not worry about that
Where Robert went off the road will now be known as Kryten corner 🤖
Rumour is Kryten is still tidying the corner up.
I've been watching this channel for a year now and it's taken me this long to realize "Robert" is "Robert Llewellyn" 😂
For certain applications, the total cost of ownership is everything. Companies will jump through hoops and build their own infrastructure when they see it saves money in a surprisingly short long-run.
ive ran a 4x2 ev tractor unit for a year and the savings vs diesel is negligible. amazing truck though
The difference is some things can’t be bought tor money.... namely versatility ....
I want an electric car but... they have there down sides too
@@Obvsaninternetexpert I supposed it depends on what versatilities matter for your application. I can charge my electric car at home. I never have to waste time and miles go to a 'depot' or gas station for regular commuting.
Is your electric crazy expensive? Or are you including costs other than the energy?
All EVs are crazy expensive because their resale value falls off a cliff because nobody wants them. Depreciation is the biggest cost with most cars.
Dealers can not sell used EVs and new ones are not much better.
The early adopters have learned their lesson and are going back to gas cars in large numbers.
Everyone else never had much interest in EVs to begin with.
And business use is a joke. Just ask Hertz.
Good to see Robert has been practicing his landscaping skills again 🤣 remind me not to stand on a grass verge when he's in a lorry at the next Fully Charged event 😜
There is a company who bought 2 elctric trucks . The first problem was they were double the price of new diesel trucks . The second problem was the area they cover is 40%less and they needed recharging during there shift so the company that paid for them tried every thing they could do to max there potential . But they soon found out there range didn't match the advertised range by quite a way offthen the down timeto charge during the day after 6monthes the truck company ended up selling them and lost a shed load of money thrvery high purcprice depreciation andnot being able to do what there diesels could do . They tried to get there drivers to charge them up during the drivers break driving hours but the drivers ended up threatening to leave the company as they were sitting idle far to long . The owners said in the article that ìt had been an unmitigated disaster and went back to diesel
What you have to remember is that the transition to the electric age from the fossil fuel age and on a localized level from the IC engine age to the EV age is a process. At the moment we are just in a "moment in time" in that development/transition process. The scenario you describe is a company switching to the EV option without fully researching if it meets their requirements at that particular moment in this transition process. This was talked about in the programme itself.
One charging station solution that is already available is battery storage/buffers at the charge station. One company makes chargers that have large batteries built-in and they only need a standard capacity electric service connection. The batteries charge up when the unit is not in use, then when a car or truck arrrives they have high capcity, high speed charging available via the battery and don't need a huge high current power service connection. This concept can be used in many configurations and with big enough batteries would work well for large truck/lorry charging as well. The negative nellies seem to think nothing is changing and improvements are somehow not being made and will never be made. EVERYTHING is changing and fast. Maybe do some reading and watch some videos to learn how things are moving forward re the electrification of everything.
I would love to see you come to Canada and check out what Edison Motors is doing with their retrofits. You would love the projects they have going on right now!
The retrofits and the ground-up D-E heavy trucks. It isn't like Fully Charged hasn't featured hybrid powerplants for heavy / rural applications in the past.
@@DrewNorthup it's their channel, they can collab with whoever they want.
@@Duffman19370 You misunderstood me: I think Edison Motors *should* be featured. They're doing good work up there and deserve some positive recognition.
Was very impressed with the truck at everything electric show in Sydney with the interchangeable batterys. Don't worry Robert it will grow back lol . Keep smiling everyone
We have two 18T DAF rigid electrics on test. last week when the temperature at night dropped in the UK one driver had to be recovered as his range fell from 50% to 20% within 15 miles and he couldn't get back to base ( 7 miles short ). We've had them about 8 months and only charge at our own site. Great for local town work but still very limited at current tech development and infrastructure.
this ^^^ doesn't make a lot of sense. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but it was not because of a fundamental issue with battery electric trucks, more the fact they are new and the manufacturers are learning how to set them up and how customers use them.
The 30% of lecy in your trucks battery did not go anywhere, if the driver couldn't access it then the battery thermal management is rubbish ie battery heating doesn't work as it shoud (again, unfortunately not uncommon on these gen1 trucks) The act of driving the truck will of course warm the battery back up, and "Free up" the energy, given a properly specified ESS. It also seems very unlikely that a single over night halt caused a significant cooling of the batteries. These are huge (probably around 1,000 kg!) of battery cells, they have alarge specific heat,a nd they take a long time to cool down. It's much more likely that the isssue was an electronics one, or more accurately, the calibration of an electronics issue!
@@maxtorque2277 not my field of expertise. I can only go on the customer usability. It's not the first time they've been recovered and everyone is learning hence being on test. Had the sudden fall of range before so maybe lower temperature was only a contributing factor
Come on Tesla, show them how to do it….
@@tonyshipton8896- Would be nice but how long did it take them to produce a pickup? And now they have, it’s little more than a rich kids’ toy with bragging rites. How money tradespeople would buy a Cybertruck? If Tesla had partnered with a trucking company, I’m sure they’d have had a working truck/lorry by now. But a Tesla truck with the futuristic looks, is still many years away. I think the likes of Geely’s Volvo or Merc will get there before them.
Not good for the range to drop so much, DAF have some work to do to give a more accurate reading.
Do you lease those two DAFs? If so, what is the monthly payment with truck plus fuel for the electric compared to diesel?
If for nothing else, they seem like they would be great rigs for training vehicles to be able to give new drivers a chance to focus on trailer turning management before having to wrestle with gear shifts and such. A softer start to help people learn more easily. The future looks bright!
Most trucks have been automatic for years.
I was a hobby truck-driver for some time and started to ask myself, why do all those parked trailers not have solar-panels on their roof. During weekends you see massive amounts of trailers parked around distribution centers. Imagine how much square meters of solar panels that would give you to charge semi-trucks. And during driving they could add power to the battery packs and/or provide power to the cooling unit (now all burning diesel) , for transporting cooled goods. So, I’m challenging the trailer manufacturing industry to come with such a solution.
Funnily enough I was thinking along similar lines. If the batteries were actually in the trailers they could be getting charged up while sitting at depots.
The truck itself would have a smaller battery for maneuvering around the depots etc. and the trailers would plug in to the tractor unit.
I believe the Germans have been experimenting with an overhead pantograph on top of the truck for motorway use.
I went on my first electric bus from the Oxford park and ride , well impressed.
Saw these the other day. Thought they were a bit too quiet from the outside. They need to play bus noises and have the windows shake when stationary. Impressive though.
@@allen_key not sure if joking....
Only a little. The lack of noise was both pleasant and unnerving at the same time. Something so big should not be so silent.
@@allen_key wait, do the uk don't have a law that requires EVs to make a sound below 30km/h?
what a stupid oversight
@@allen_key Lack of Windows Shaking is the best part. But low speed sound generator should be running according to vehicle regulations.
I used to work in Automotive industry, with components, and something they loved was returnable boxes,
so if the trucks had removable batteries, and rolled up at an authorized changer, perhaps where the haulage companies would pay to store batteries, then have an attendant remove the old, stick it on charge, and insert a new one, that was already fully charged, that could make the turn around time 10mins instead of 10hours,,
they could mod the trailers to have a full roof of solar panels that link back to the truck too, charge while driving..
and of course, as the Merc engineer eluded to, its all about horses for courses, if the e-truck suits the need of the company.
Ive always seen videos bad mouthing e-trucks because of the weight constraints, but this seems like something hopeful for the future.
A roof of solar panels would only give a small fraction of what's needed though.
already happening in Australia. except the solar panel bit.
@@rallychamp2003 Currently yes, but if people dont use them, no one will put in the R&D to make them better?
@@TheRealKaiProton The maximum solar power striking earth is 1120W per square meter (at sea level). So no matter how efficient your solar panels are they are not going to make much difference to a truck's range.
You may not have seen this episode of Fully Charged Show. Sort of what you suggest in reality: th-cam.com/video/9eYLtPSf7PY/w-d-xo.html
We've got retrofited ev trucks here in Oz and they use 2 large battery packs in place of the original diesel tank's that are swapped in designated location for long distance and time for swapping is 10min.
This is the best way for long haul.
great idea!
They also spontaneously combust spectacularly while sitting still in a yard and while driving down a motorway.
2 massive fires from a fleet of 6 trucks,, pretty poor performance record.
Swapping is the way to go for trucks, this will happen.
These are my favourite FC videos. I don’t remember one about EV coaches though. That seems to be a video topic long overdue being tackled.
The podcast this week is on EV school buses (in America).
@@iaintunmore2609 How about the first Electric Motorway Coach Routes??
@@iaintunmore2609That’s cool, but we’ve seen that covered. I saw National Express are doing a trial with 250-300 mile range Yutong coaches. FC could presumably do something with them, or a smaller company. I’m pretty sure they exist. Probably in Scotland.
Thanks team, another cracking look at new EV innovation. Can I make one comment on the script though?
While it is super cuddly news that electric drive gives the drivers a lovely quiet, smooth ride, I don't think the average non-commercial motorist really understands commercial driving or gives a stuff about their driver's comfort. What might resonate more with us peon non-professional drivers is to highlight that smooth and quiet has a very real impact on reduced driver fatigue. This brings a safety improvement through lower fatigue and better long-term driver health. That might meet with more general approval than just the fluffy notion that commercial drivers have a 'lovely drive'.
Just a thought. Keep up the good work and thank you Robert for continuing to act as the joker in the pack.
It's just ironic that he wasn't allowed to pilot Starbug either.
So true
I think he did try it once,
In Australia they have Converted Semis and New Semis that just Forklift the Battery out on stops along a Highway. 5 Minutes to exchange the Battery..
The European game changer is Mercedes eActros 600, to quote Mercedes “newly developed lithium iron phosphate batteries, the eActros 600 offers you a complete package of excellent features: Range: 500 km without recharging. Service life of up to 1,200,000 km. Megawatt charging from 20% to 80% in about 30 minutes using systems designed for 800 volts instead of 400 volts. There are a number of European requirements around tachograph driving time limits and rest periods that assist EV lorries for charging. Undoubtedly they are cheaper to run, but they are more expensive to purchase. However these vehicles are purchased by hard nosed accountants focusing on current account and would be a business to business transaction. The issue remains in the U.K. for lorries has it does for cars, the lack of charging infrastructure to effectively exploit these in life gains.
They are getting a bit closer to Tesla now… I remember Mercedes comments on the Tesla Semi and it’s 500 mile range, (breaking the rules of physics) until they saw the Full 500 mile video…still seems to be eluding them…
@@tonyshipton8896 In Europe the rules are different, basically hours driven rest periods and not miles driven also regarding vehicle overall weight, the Volvo Mercedes and DAF tractor units are designed to exploit those rules. The Tesla Semi is designed to exploit North America rules. Given the low manufacturing number of the Tesla semi and the problems with the 4680 batteries, Tesla is now behind the curve. Volvo alone have delivered over 5000 ev trucks and are in partnership with Mercedes to roll out the heavy charging infrastructure. Let’s not forget Mercedes has the Hydrogen eActros GenH2 Truck covered a distance of 1,047 km between Woerth am Rhein and Berlin driven with one fill of liquid hydrogen.
I wonder how service stations are going to cope. There are plenty of service stations, that have 150kW or 230kW or 350kW capable chargers on site now. But those same chargers are routinely only delivering under 10kW, as the sites’ overall electrics are being maxed out. So the chargers by request, are being tuned down. I wonder what it would be like, with an extra four-six 300-400+kWh trucks were to charge. Even at service station prices, that’s a lot of overpriced sandwiches and cola drinks, to upgrade a site’s electrics.
@@dcvariousvids8082 look into Kempower, a Finish company they are providing the Megawatt Charging System (MCS), a dedicated solution for electric truck charging that requires power levels above 1 MW. They have been chosen by the Volvo Mercedes joint venture to build the charging system across Europe.
@@dcvariousvids8082 They need 1000kwh batteries in a container to give that power .
Unfortunately I can’t see the motorway services adapting for hgv charging points, they pack the trucks in so tightly like sardines making use of every inch of car park to squeeze that extra truck in, a lot of trucks get there mirrors taken out or trucks damaged.
charge 30 - 40 pound a night for filthy toilets rubbish food and you wake up not knowing if your curtains have been slashed, load stolen and diesel pinched.
It sounds like there's a big need for improvement there. What can be done to force them to improve? Should the network be nationalised?
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 don’t think that would help tbh, the transport minister knows all about it but as usual rather than look after the individuals they choose to support corporate companies.
All the parking areas are massively overcrowded and poor quality.
... at least these won't have the diesel pinched!
Don’t you think the introduction of charging points will change this dynamic?
If there’s more profit to be made by attracting trucks that need to charge, it’s going to incentivise investing in improvements that attract truck drivers?
@@auspiciouslywild I can’t see how with current lay outs, truck spaces are so tightly laid out that they are parked shoulder to shoulder and 3 deep, as I said before it is that tight that quite often trailers take out mirrors and hit the cabs when they are pulling out of spaces and the back of trailers are catching other parked trucks
We shouldn't judge these by todays standard - the pace of ev, battery and charging technology will soon be solving the shortcomings we see here.
Indeed!
Look at Volvo fastest charge ever this week
The basic laws of physics are not going to change, you still need the raw power delivered to the site.
@@davidashton6567 Not sure what you mean but power is required to run gas station and refine fuel. No power shortages in my country.
Agree - fuel refining and transportation of fuel energy use shouldn't be underestimated
😂😂😂❤❤❤
I've missed these "Robert videos"...
Like letting a kid drive a truck 😂
Blimey, I thought I had suddenly changed to watching 'The Fly' at 12:13 with Jeff Goldblum: a great film.
Great video; and Charlie Jardine and his company's plan was impressive.
All the ranges given were with 50% payload, what is the fully laden range. 400km is nowhere near enough, my son inlaw does a day run from Perth to Albany carting steel, with drop offs on the way about 1000km trip. With his driving hours he is able to return to the depot but if he had to stop for 2 recharges he wouldnt and the truck wouldnt be back to be loaded for the next day putting them a day behind schedule. We dont have to take 45 min breaks in Aus so charging time would cut in driving time.
Nice truck, and nice landscaping. :)
Standard cab design though. If they’re building it from the ground up why not design amazing visibility to save a few cyclist/pedestrian lives.
Familiarity I suppose
correct, this is not like mentioned from the ground up. same with their delivery vans.
the rivian van is from the ground up EV for example.
Make them more aerodynamic to make them more efficient.
Regulation, they need to make new regulation to create new cab designs
@@kiddy1992 no, less regulation. Let the smart people in industry design something better, not government regulators.
I'm still hoping for electric trailers first, they can already safe loads of diesel without the disadvantages when it comes to range or a worldwide lack of batteries.
Also note they can get solar panels and regeneration and speed up at traffic lights and such.
Swappable non structural batteries. Take off weight when not needed. Add in for long trips. Don't have to look pretty like a BEV SUV and the requirments are different so why have integral units? Does it work well for scooters and power tools?
Just make sure manufacturers all choose USB-C.
Swappable batteries for quick turn around at the depot would be even better, especially with long range journeys if a swap station can be set up at the mid point. An Australian company is doing this. Mercedes are going after the low hanging fruit of shorter range fixed batteries.
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 And exactly this is tested currently by "DesignWerk" a Swiss eTruck Pioneer Company.
They have already a 1000kwh (fixed battery not swapable) Truck as offer and used by customers already to do transit over the Alps to Italy...no need to charge at all for this truck outside of the depot, due to about 1000km Range.
excellent, as always ...... thanks
Great episode but I’d when featuring vehicles requiring large batteries can you include a section on how their depot is equipped to handle multiple units being charged and the en route facilities required for fast charging.
If the mirrors are so incredible, why do drivers hate them? Also at the end the presenter suggests that charging on break is a worst case scenario. Actually it is a best case scenario. Frequently drivers wouldn't be able to charge on break if they are on e.g. a customer site.
Great job Imogen and Robert.
When it comes to trucks and lorries, the most crucial question is how much energy could all the batteries store? Ultra high energy density is crucial especially for long distance travel
Great video as ever. Is there a genuine problem with HGVs where they arrive back at the depot, pick up a new load and driver and head off again? So there's no downtime during which to charge? I'm not logistics expert, so I don't know if this is a real concern or not?
Driving regulations allow driving for 4.5 not 4 hours before a 45 minute break but many drivers not on trunk driving will take their 45 minute break in 2 or 3 parts usually while waiting at delivery / pick up points where there won`t be charging facilities.
Thank you FC Team!!
Milence, we are all waiting for you! 🤞
At the moment its a no from me. The depot i drive out of has 8 units, and each does between 1000 and 1500 km per day, both day and night shift. Theres no room for chargers, nor adequate power supply.
Breaks are often taken in laybys, not in service stations so no access to charging facilities. This is because there aren't enough parking spots for HGVs in services and truck stops in the UK, especially at peak times. Plus many drivers dont want to use services as they're unsafe and expensive. Even stopping for a 45 minute break at night can cost you your load to thieves
Finally someone saying what I think.
Could truck stops build walls to reverse up to, to prevent access to the rear door?
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 many are curtain side, all they need is a knife to get in through the side.
@@BrianM0OAB why is that? That seems very unsafe. The driver can't guard the load all the time, they have to be able to take breaks!
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 just google european trucks, many are box like American trucks, but more common is the curtain side, many places load/unload from the side unlike backing into a dock.
I think many drivers drive an hour or so and then take 15 min break and then 30 min break later in the day with in the time limits, its what I've seen from truckers in Europe on youtube atleast, and if they can charge both times a little bit that should cover it, that would also likely mean you can avoid going 100% most of the time.
Many companies will perhaps offer charging while loading and unloading, if you can get 2 - 4 short 5 - 10 minute fill ups for a little fee or maybe even for free and everyone doing that eventually...
I see so many posibilities with electric trucks and cars its exciting...
So much focus on the negative, lately its been so much crap about reduced sales volumes and stuff and how this and that company struggle with their EV's, in many cases its not because of poor demand but because either they have just pushed out too much trying to complete or just not delivered a good enough product.
My money would still go to Hyundai and KIA for an EV, some BMW offerings looking tempting too but not see much coverage of them, only like one or two models when they have a ton of different models.
A lot of sites barely have a single usable toilet for ALL off-site drivers, male and female. If there's a crappy drinks machine you're winning... So who's going to pay for this on-bay charging..?? Most of us HAVE to drive a solid 4+hrs, due to scheduling, none of this lovely stopping when you want. In a dream world where every part of the industry is onboard, brilliant, but I can't see haulage changing soon...
‘Kryten’s Corner’ - get a sign up and make a virtue of Robert’s off road adventure. Be like ‘Gambon’ in Top Gear.
It's been quite a few years since trucks were fully manual. They have had a semi automatic manual gearbox for at least 20 yrs so no point comparing the ev versions to the older fully manual gearboxes.
Ooh, I'd love to have a go at driving one of those e-trucks.
For short trips 100-200miles etc 100percent ev is doable now. For very long all day driving they should be building hybrids untill the ev range and charging eventually catches up in the long run. Same situation with city buses and coaches.
Not needed. I work at a large fleet company. They drive 82kph. With eActros you could get up to 700kWh batteries I believe, this is around 650-700km. After that you need certain long stops. This will come, trust me. Hybrids are garbage and on long haul you still fully rely on fossil fuels
@@bq5577x yeah but the charging is still an issue. I know it will come but I think hybrids could be better than they are now.
You'd be surprised to learn that most (ie over 85%) cargo trips in Europe are within that 400km ballpark - and most of those in the 250km range. And, that Berlin and Hamburg (the two biggest cities in the biggest country in Europe) will have 100% electric public transport by 2030. Amsterdam, Paris and [Name of any City here] are following with big steps. Nobody with sense and valid data thinks that dual-drivetrains are a good thing. But i guess sharing your opinion was important to you.
Mercedes-Benz Trucks, MAN, Volvo - all of them are taking a very late, very hard turn and have already ditched all development projects for Diesel engines a couple of years back. Including "Hybrid" solutions. Depending on how fatigued the turn was taken, you will see a small handful of dual-drivetrain trucks and busses and whatnot. And they will be bought by "those" people, who don't know how to - or don't want to use a calculator. And then, when they are nigh-on bancrupt because of the > 3 € / litre Diesel, the rising WLTP tax/fine and skyrocketing maintenance-parts-prices, they, too, will go for single drivetrain solutions. Or bancrupt.
Long haul driving will switch over to shorter trips to take advantage of all the benefits of EV. Companies that don't won't survive.
@@bq5577x Hybrids are just another way for oil barons to extend the burn.
When pulling into a fuel station that deals in lots of semi`s most of them have separate bowsers for HGVs and regular cars and light trucks at least in Western Australia,I can`t speak for anywhere else.
14:46 I'm seeing a bit of Kryten there!
Once these are readily available good like finding drivers for your diesel rig.
Great driving . Loved the verge landscaping. Just as well it was on a closed test track. Imagine the carnage driving round a city full of Cyclists 🚴♂️ 😳
Was gonna say 250mi is plenty for a small country like Thailand (you can traverse half of the country). But then half of the country is mountainous, so heavy trucks are probably out.
The whole transportation and logistic system of a country will need to be completely reconfigured to make these trucks work. But I guess the current system is config for diesel trucks, so that's fair. Maybe it will bring back small towns in between larger distances.
Wirelessly charging as you drive!
Coventry is doing a PoC.
I imagine if you are a company sending your trucks out to the same places every day. From some central warehouse to whatever shops/factories you serve.
It would make sense to have chargers at the drop off points. It might not be there long enough to leave with 100% all the time, but you really don't want that anyway. But it could extend the range a lot, it is just parked there anyway when the its loading/unloading.
I also always wonder about the trailers or what you call them. They could have a floor filled with batteries, working as an extender.
Yes, there is spare underneath the trailer that could be used. There has to be sides to prevent motorcyclists from going under. Fill it with batteries!
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 more weight, that will lessen load carrying, that could impact the bottom line $.
@@TerryHickey-xt4mf but more range means you can go further before you have to stop to recharge. It's a balance that will get optimised for different use cases. The majority of truck journeys are not weight limited, they are volume limited. I can't the remember the exact number but I think it was around 70% volume limited.
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 who have to pay for thoes batteries the company owning the trailer or the company using them for there truck?
@@pingvingaming most of the time the trailer is owned by the same company as the truck. Either for in house deliveries, eg Pepsi or Amazon, or for container traffic the container is owned by someone else but the trucker owns the truck and trailer. Putting batteries in the trailer would only make sense when the truck and trailer stay together like that.
Last time I spoke to Dan I said to him one or more of the Fully Charge team needs to get a CDL/HGV/LGV Licence.
A friend just took delivery of a small number of EV lorries and a few of the new Scania battery hybrid.
They were asked £300,000 to upgrade the power grid connection to the company because they would be pulling too much power with more lorries if they needed to charge at the same time and they already maxed out the site with solar
The husband and wife owners already said they are open to testing any thing Fully Charge would ask them to drive and also open to the team to come and film the lorries in action.
Imagine, the loudest noise on your truck is "this vehicle is reversing" and the beeping sound
My local council has started using electric bin lorries. This is exactly what happens! The bin store for my block of flats is just outside my window. Of course there's still the noise of moving bins around and the hydraulics lifting and emptying them, as well as the reverse warning, but the difference is huge - after all, the diesel ones have to rev their engines quite a bit while stopped (a few metres from my living room) to run the hydraulics.
I saw a promo video from the council where they said that these lorries can do an entire shift on a charge, so the practicality question seems sorted as well.
Can’t wait to start driving these every day instead of dirty diesels. 👍
Regen on downhills is a massive win for overall public safety. In some countries with poorer rail infrastructure, poorly maintained trucks are a real issue on some routes. They are prone to brake failures, often resulting in horrific accidents.
the cost of braking in semi's is huge, they are insanely costly to operate.
no wonder an electric truck will pay off earlier.
The hugely complex gearboxes have been gone from big trucks for at least two decades Rob !
They are making their way in to fleets.Range is the thing.
Why not outfit the trailer roof with a full suite of solar panels and get a bit of charge during daylight hours while on the road?
I'm not going to attempt to do individual answers to dozens of similar comments mainly from USA and Oz, but I did a simple look up on a US government data page for a table on trucking distances in the USA. 30% of loads by value go under 100mi and 55% go under 250mi [by weight, it's 36% and 74%] this is all within today's possible technology and more with a possible 500mi by Tesla's semi if you believe it. Of course to implement at scale, grid connection upgrades and infrastructure at destination and on route are necessary but this is how the small vehicle EV market grew, first with short range city vehicles and then developed rapidly thereafter. That long range heavy loads [which tend to be lower value] are out of reach, and will be for some time, does not argue against what can be achieved soon with battery costs going down and charging speeds going up. Even here in Europe I'm not oblivious to plenty of long distance trucking, tomatoes, for example, move at scale from Southern Spain to Northern Britain which is well over 1500mi.
One fleet owner said that he has 49 trucks and if he went electric he would need an electricity substation at the end of the street.
Yes, dedicated charging stations for trucks and cars with trailers are needed. Charging a truck at a regular parking lot with a charger isn't exactly smooth sailing...
as an electritian let me tell you that the charging infrastructure and the electrical grid itselfe is not a 'small' issue.
it is a massive issue already and will only get more challenging the more battery EVs are on the road.
I doubt it.
Battery EVs are already in decline in favour of petrol/diesel.
Then it's hydrogen fuel for everything.
Hydrogen is now considered to be plentiful and cheap to extract from the earth's crust.
Probably best to leave it to the boffins from now on.
Before even watching, battery swapping solves all heavy duty transport deficiencies: range, purchase price, time of charging, cheaper charging station grid connection & on & on
Yes HGV is one of few places battery swapping is the answer.
"This could be the answer to that", pointing at Imogen. So, she will be carrying it instead of the truck? 🙂
I am a artic trucker. I did 300 miles yesterday with 7 drops and 1 collection at my last drop to bring back to base. I had 2 breaks. 1 45 minute in a layby in the countryside because I ran out of driving time and the second on my final collection in a farm yard. Absolute zero chance of having charging at those locations because our government and council are bankrupt. All my deliveries were in and out, no time for stopping so zero chance to charge at all. I did close to 8 hours driving that day. EV trucks are light years away from replacing diesel artics. I have also driven with camera mirrors for the past 3 years and they are universally panned by truck drivers. They help with blind side reverse but apart from that they are worse than conventional mirrors. We have nearly 100 trucks and close to 150 trailers (which also require fuel because they are fridges) in our yard. All serviced by two fuel pumps imeasurably. For them to upgrade so all units could be charged would cost millions of pounds which is just unfeasible not to mention the power load. Likewise getting all the distrubition centres to do the same will not happen unless the tax payer foots the bill. There is a lot of missinformation in this video. These guys are living in cloud cuckoo land a bit like our politicians in their ivory towers. The only one talking any sense and totally gets it is the CEO guy they were chatting to.
That's a fascinating description of a real day for a truck driver. Thank you, really reassuring that maybe not today, but within the next 2 to 3 years there will be electric tractor units that can do that without needing to recharge.
All the other caveats you mention totally valid today, I was driving an electric car 15 years ago and there was literally nowhere to charge other than at my house. I mean nowhere. But as the demand grew, slowly, so did the supply. As of today there are 66,000 locations to rapid charge an electric car in the UK.
From zero to 66,000 took 14 years, but last year alone they installed, linked up and are now operating 7,000 new chargers.
In a couple of months there will be one dedicated 400 kW electric truck recharge installation on the M1. Just one, utterly useless unless you're driving an electric truck up and down the M1. Hopeless.
Until there are two, and then 4 on the M4, and then 8 at a large truck stop on the A1.
And right now, the battery capacity (and range) is restricted by size and weight. Yesterday, CATL announced a massive breakthrough in battery technology, with higher energy density and faster charging.
But then again, if it's okay to burn hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic, expensive, imported oil every year, then let's forget it and carry on as we have done for the last 100 years
@@fullychargedshow I admire your optimism and wish it would happen as I would much rather drive an EV lorry with instant torque and silence but seeing the poor uptake of EV cars and wondering where the money is going to come from to pay for all this when our NHS, police and general infrastructure is crumbling worries me. Trucking facilites have been diabolical for decades in this country so getting private companies to spend billions overall on charging infrastructure is a big ask.
Perhaps companies with trucks out all day could do deal for other companies’ truck to use the idle chargers. And vice versa. Helping out whilst public infrastructure grows.
Electric trucks is pretty much an inevitability at this point. It is just a question of cost vs range and towing capacity. Electric motors have a great amount of torque so pulling capacity shouldn't be a huge problem leaving range and cost. The range is largely down to how much battery capacity can be stored in the cab section. In theory you could also connect external batteries to boost range further within the trailer for long-haul use but this is something that would have to be standardised between all manufacturers in order to be viable.
Hydrogen will be the future…..not BEVs for trucks and heavy duty haulage
@@fireWireX4 It might have a place but that hydrogen is inevitably going to cost x10 what an electricity fill up would cost.
Yet another excellent video, and another excellent solution to climate change. Your production value never ceases to amaze; keep up the good work. BTW, you mean _effect_ or _contribution_ (n) or _affect_ (v), not "impact". Even in the jargon sense, saying "impact...is absolutely huge" is redundant.
Emotors regardless of how they are fueled are the future of heavy machinery for the torque. Think diesel electric train locomotive.
I still have questions about electric semis for over the road transport, but a lot of local stuff makes a whole lot of sense.
It is sensible to start with the short range and work up from there. Bit disappointing their max is only 300 miles though, when Tesla semi claims 500.
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 The operative word there is "claims", until its demonstrated by a third party, with specifics about the kind of roads driven on and speeds operated at, Tesla's claims are somewhat questionable..
@@darwinskeeper421 the NACFE has collected data from real world driving of several electric semis, rather than test conditions. The Tesla semi managed 372 miles on a single charge, and that wasn't quite 100 down to 0. Short of 500, but still much more than any of the others. With 3 recharge stops of various durations, it managed 1070 miles in 24 hours.
Electric trucks; fascinating. Llewellyn driving a truck; on the terrifying side of scary. Episode of Red Dwarf where Kryten ends up driving a heavy truck; comedy gold….
For a truck built from the ground up, I am surprised more effort wasn't put into aero
I'm not sure why they haven't baked 800V architecture in from the beginning. It will future proof them and decrease down time between charging.
Edison motors! Application!
10:30 hot trucker alert 🥵
If Robert thinks public charging (or probably more accurately off-depot charging) for trucks is a small problem just now, I wonder what he would regard as a big problem? I can see the practicality for regional distribution where trucks return to depot each day, but the long-haul trunk drivers who stay out overnight must surely be wondering when they can join the party.
Must admit I prefer the Edison solution of having an onboard generator/charger rather than hauling ever larger battery packs around.
Even a 200kW pack with generator would be far more usable than the 400kW and 600kW units proposed here.
Electric motors for the torque, agreed.
The problem with that is Diesel has to be phased out. Just having improved efficiency isn't enough. If they develop an HFC version over the next few years that will be better long term. At the moment fuel taxes aren't high enough to make the economics work for that yet though.
As soon the higher energy density of Cells are reaching the truck, weight is no issue any more.
The Swiss Company "DesignWerk" already sells a 1000kwh Lorry, which is doing transits to Italy.
They changed from 160Wh/kg to 260Wh/kg and the Battery weighs 5.9t.
As soon the already possible 500Wh/kg (CATL has achieved this) reaches the lorry, the weight is no issue anymore.
The Diesel Engine, plus gears and the Diesel itself you have to carry around is above 3t, too.
U mean…..like current diesel electric locomotives? Which have been around for DECADES????😂😂😂😂
no need to have huge batteries when you can just swap them every so often, it is happening now, gives you more load carrying ability, time for a potty break and a cuppa etc.
‘After driving for 4hrs, drivers HAVE to stop for a 45 min break’…….
Sigh……
People who don’t know tacho regs………..
great video
I wish we could have camera screen mirrors in the US.
No mention of range limiting factors whatsoever. Surely the weight of the load or the outside temperature are both factors that limit/reduce the range these vehicles are capable of?
I don't know what a lorry is, but these are cool
I'm interested to see how Edison gets on with their range extender truck. I think that might be a more realistic alternative in the short/medium term.
The simple rule of thumb is anything that can be done with battery should be. A huge proportion of truck journeys are already within the capabilities of battery trucks. The logging truck market Edison is focussing on is a very challenging use case where their system makes sense for now. They already build trucks that come in generator or battery only versions. I hope they will develop a HFC option in due course so the Diesel generators can be swapped out while keeping the truck running in a post Diesel world.
that is so dumb i dont even wanna start....
The Tesla Semi specs are way better - bigger batteries, more range, much faster charging. Though they've only begun selling to Pepsi and Walmart. They also need to bring to scale.
How long does it take to charge a truck? How far can it drive? How much heavier is the truck comparing to same diesel truck? How long tires last on electric truck? What happens to roads by using much heavier transport on them?
Would it not make sense to put some of the batteries and motors in the trailer too? That would offer more regen and also reduce the required weight and size of the tractor unit
It's the total weight that count.
I just found out Robert Llewellyn played Kryten on Red Dwarf. Speechless.
when he joined the show it just made the series complete, one of the best sci fi comedy shows ever. I still talk to my toaster.
seeing a lorry driving there only reminds me of the topgear boys driving a burning lorry around there....
Can we get some actual truck drivers in to give their opinion? Keep seeing car people do truck reviews, and to be honest, at times their comparisons are what they think a truck does, not what they actually are. Happy to volunteer, I could at least get it round a corner without doing landscaping. 😂
More Train lines can and should replace the need for all those big trucks around most of the world. Then you would only need much lighter vehicles to go shorter distances from the stations.
More electric train lines. Also it would not be a station it would be a freight yard. Which have been mostly closed down.
Just Have a Think mentioned there are 1.2 million electric trucks in China (if i recall correctly), so i guess we're just catching up (again).
well china has smart politicians, they decided to go full electric 20 years AGO, no wonder
&, They gave him the big truck! Not the little one!? Wow.
Good stuff!
Since when has driver’s comfort been at the forefront of transport managers minds?🤣
Please, I know that this subject is not exclusive to electric vehicles (the issue of heavy vehicle traffic can be used for general analysis), but could you make a program analyzing the possible damage that many electric transport vehicles overloaded on bridges and other similar systems compared to operations using the same "lighter" cargo vehicles?
Due to my lack of knowledge and traumatic experiences in Brazil, when poorly produced centuries-old viaducts and bridges often fall due to the normal circulation of vehicles, but by greatly increasing the weight of these vehicles, even modern engineering standards would suffer accelerated deterioration. Limits could then be established for the use of these "sensitive" constructions as long as building standards duly compatible with modernity are created.
I'm not from the UK - where is the Mercedes man's accent from? I can't place it. (Just curious)
I think for really the very large HGV trucks like this, hydrogen might make more sense, or Battery swap stations. Just when I think the size of battery needed for really heavy goods and the distance they are expected in a day can be quite high, the weight might be a problem.
Unfortunately hydrogen only makes sense in terms of energy density and you set aside everything else. It may have a role but the cost difference to straight BEV is huge ... and transport runs on tight margins.
Conducting while talking-who started this ???
Assuming equal truck weight ( why not, I'll give it to you, it doesn't matter for this simple demonstration), a tesla semi with 1mwh battery has roughly speaking 1/4 the energy of a proper diesel truck. So.. the question remains: do you want a more expensive quadruple not good truck or a proper one for your fleet mr entrepreneur?
Fascinating comments section 🕵♀. I sorted by "newest" and gave up after reading about 20 similar comments that go like _"i know some guys, and all those guys hate electric, and love trucks, TRUST ME!"_ 🤣ok buddy(s)