nz8b02146_si_001.pdf (1.25 MB)
Quantifying the Economic Case for Electric Semi-Trucks
journal contribution
posted on 2018-12-04, 00:00 authored by Shashank Sripad, Venkatasubramanian ViswanathanThere
has been considerable interest in the electrification of
freight transport; however, there is uncertainty in the technological
and economic competitiveness due to the size and the substantial costs
associated with large battery packs. Here we analyze the trade-off
between the initial investment and the operating costs to compare
a Class 8 diesel semi-truck and an electric truck with a range of
500 miles. We define the payback period to be the time span required
for the operational cost savings to break even with the initial price
differential. For an initial price differential of ∼US$100 000,
we estimate a baseline payback period of 3.24 ± 1.46 years. We
identify four targets in the 20202030 time frame, each of
which needs to be met in order to ensure a payback period of about
∼5 years: (i) an optimized vehicle design with a drag coefficient
of 0.4 ± 0.04 for lowering the pack size and meeting the payload
demands, (ii) pack price of