Sandra Badie, French vice-world champion, died at 31

AFP

Despite obstacles, the race for electric trucks is on

Using a motorized arm, a worker at the Volvo factory in Gothenburg, Sweden, slowly moves huge black blocks along a chassis: three tons of batteries that will soon power an electric truck, produced flagship of the world number 2 in the sector. “This is where the difference is made”, explains Sandra Finer, vice-president of operations on the site. “On the production line, we use the same people and the same equipment but there, instead of placing a diesel engine, we place an electric module”. Now produced in series by several major manufacturers in Europe, North America and in China, electric trucks are hitting the roads faster than expected, even if there is still a long way to go to dethrone the polluting diesel. “We are living in a very exciting moment,” Felipe Rodriguez, independent expert at the analysis group International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). “Four or five years ago, people would have said to you: + you are crazy, it will never work. Diesel is king, it cannot be beat +” . Very energy-intensive to move their many tons, electric heavy goods vehicles raise questions about their autonomy or their recharging, which requires terminals tens of times more powerful than for cars. But, driven in particular by increasingly strict regulations of the European Union to reduce CO2 emissions and by the massive support of the Chinese State to its national manufacturers, the sector now seems convinced that there will be no going back.” There was an awareness of the industry that it couldn’t keep its diesel engines forever,” Rodriguez points out. “And a race is now on to really develop and bring these electric trucks to market.” to 50,000 units sold in total, most of them in China, according to data from analysis firms. But the main Western manufacturers such as the Germans Daimler and Man, Volvo and its French subsidiary Renault Trucks, or the other Swedish Scania have invested massively As for the American Tesla, after its success in the electric car, it also displays its ambitions in this segment with its “Semi” promising up to 800 kilometers of autonomy. The cake is sizeable: the truck market weighs more than 200 billion dollars per year worldwide, with nearly 6 million units sold. “In 2030, 50% of the Volvo trucks we sell should be zero emissions (…) and in 2040, everything will have to be,” said Roger Alm, head of the Volvo Group truck branch. proportion of sales that more or less corresponds to that necessary to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement to decarbonize road transport, estimates the ICTT.According to the analyst firm, a diesel heavy truck emits around 1 kilo of CO2 per kilometer. Even with the current European electricity mix, which still includes a large share of coal and gas, an electric truck reduces this carbon footprint by two thirds. Still according to the ICCT, the share of electricity in Europe should reach 90% in 2040.” It’s really started to take off in northern Europe and North America. Now it’s moving south into Europe, but also other markets in Africa, Australia, Brazil, country by country “Currently, an electric truck is still about two to three times more expensive than a diesel, according to Volvo, but prices are expected to drop sharply and they cost less to run. Along with other manufacturers, the Swedish giant has supported a major European plan to increase the number of charging stations for trucks, one of the weak points for the moment. car. To address range issues, several manufacturers have chosen to invest in another electric technology: the fuel cell truck, using hydrogen to produce electricity. Last week, Volvo conducted tests on the open road –the first in the world– of a truck of this type, the real development of which should take a few years.vk-map/phy/clc