Medium-Duty Box Trucks Ideal for Electrification

The North American Council for Freight Efficiency released its market segment report Electric Trucks Have Arrived: The Use Case For Medium-Duty Box Trucks

Electric Trucks Have Arrived: The Use Case For Medium-Duty Box Trucks — based on findings from last year’s Run on Less – Electric (RoL-E) freight efficiency demonstration.

The top level finding from the report is that 100% of that market segment will embrace electrification although some applications within the duty cycle will be easier to electrify than others that have more complex operations. Read the report. When the simpler box truck portion of this market segment, about 380,000 trucks in the US and Canada, electrifies, it will result in the avoidance of 7,681,707 metric tonnes (MT) of CO₂e annually.

Three fleet-OEM pairs in RoL-E operated medium-duty box trucks: Day & Ross with a Class 6 Lion6, Frito-Lay with a Class 6 Peterbilt-Cummins 220EV, and Roush Fenway Racing with a Class 6 ROUSH CleanTech Ford F-650.   The report found that medium-duty box trucks are a great application for electric trucks given their short distances and return-to-base operations. The vast majority of medium-duty box trucks are not driven long distances and are home very night. They are an ideal portion of the overall medium-duty truck market for electrification. However, more complex Class 6 and 7 trucks such as snowplows, refuse trucks, and fire trucks will require significant efforts which will delay the timing of electrification. The report includes some basic information about medium-duty box trucks and the size and scope of the market. It looks at duty cycle and charging considerations and presents the benefits and challenges of battery electric vehicles. It includes information on the manufacturers and fleets that had medium-duty box trucks in the Run and provides details on what metrics were measured. There also is a discussion of total cost of operation.

“As we wrap up our report series from Run on Less – Electric, our detailed analysis of all four market segments are very much in line with our earlier thinking before and just after the Run,” Roeth says. “The marketplace in these shorter haul, return-to-base operations are ready today to electrify and the industry should work together as one to amplify and realize the benefits while mitigating challenges and risks urgently.”

Key findings and lessons learned are also included in the report.

Category: Electric Vehicles, Engines & Drivetrains, Equipment, Featured, Fuel & Oil, General Update, Green, News, Tech Talk, Vehicles