Following the incredible success of cost reduction for renewables, the battleground has somewhat shifted to issues of how you transport that power around, store it for when it is actually needed, and provide it, in this case in for the very spikey demand to charge a BEV truck.

Here is what Germany is planning to cope:

https://techxplore.com/news/2024-03-electric-trucks-considerations-germany-nationwide.html

' An EU regulation has already set concrete minimum targets with regard to public truck charging infrastructure for all EU Member States: For instance, Germany must have a total of 32 truck charging locations by 2025, rising to 104 by 2027 and finally to 314 by 2030. The related charging capacity for trucks will increase from approximately 66 megawatts in 2025 to 918 megawatts in 2030. The EU regulation also states that there must be fast-charging infrastructure available for battery-electric trucks every 60 to 100 km along the most important German motorways.

This raises questions about suitable locations, their design and the number of locations and charging points beyond the specified minimum amount. The researchers conclude that an initial network for Germany should cover approximately 142 charging locations. The underlying scenario assumes that, in 2030, trucks will charge during the statutory 45 minute break after four-and-a-half hours of driving, about 15% of all heavy-duty trucks will be battery-electric ones, and a maximum of half of all charging processes will take place using public charging infrastructure.'

Meanwhile in the quarterly performance oriented US with a hefty dose of regulatory capture:

https://techxplore.com/news/2024-03-grappling-grid-electricity-transmission-benefits.html

' Expanding transmission could lower electricity generation costs; in 2022, a fully integrated grid in the central U.S. would have lowered those generation costs by $2 billion.

The costs, the study finds, would be lowered in part because more transmission would allow for better use of the wind generation that's already available. But building transmission is likely to be opposed by existing power plants, whose profits—for some to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars annually—are protected by inadequate transmission for new competitors.

Although building transmission could be beneficial, it will lower profits at some power plants. The problem, according to Hausman, "is that some of the same companies that would see a cut to their net revenues are the companies that have a big say in when, where and whether transmission lines get built."'

Clearly those executives are laser focussed on providing benefits to society commensurate with their drawing a hundred times or so average wages!

Bargain!

Whether it's charging batteries or making hydrogen where you use it we're going to need a good electrical grid everywhere let's get going!

Davemart,

Long distance trucking tends to be more 24/7. Drivers still need to sleep, but that time can also be used for charging.
The article mentions 3.5 million trucks a year, which wouldn't be possible if they all showed-up at the same time.

I watched a short film about EV regional delivery for a supermarket chain, and the trucks were charged overnight, but also when they were loaded and unloaded at distribution centres and at supermarkets. There's no peak, because you can only load so many trucks at a time. Even a large truck only requires the peak charging power of two or three modern EVs, which isn't much for large facilities like warehouses and supermarkets. They probably already have more chargers installed out front for regular customers.

New issues are arising in providing power for cars and trucks, as both the imputs and outputs are increasingly variable.

Oil and hydrogen are inherently storable, and gas generators can provide power anytime, more or less regardless of the time of the year or weather, or day or night, whilst it takes ten minutes or so (?)to pump the diesel into a truck.

Obviously imputs with more and more renewables will be increasingly variable, and charging a BEV is not only more time consuming than pumping in some diesel, but demands power right then and in some substantial quantity.

Here is a German study on criteria for providing charging points for HGV's:

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2634-4505/ac6442

Some of their assumptions seem a wee bit optimistic to me, but they very rightly point out that most of the fleet will remain diesel for some time. So they will have the inherent flexibility and non-renewables dependability of this option to fall back on.

And here is a study pointing out that previously trip optimisation was done on time and distance, whereas there are now a whole new set of variables to optimise for, how much they are charged for renewable electricity according to when it is in surplus or supplies are tight, for instance:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352467722000704

Difficulties do not have to be regarded as insuperable obstacles, and I certainly do not intend to present them as such.

However it is plain that fleet managers will live in what the Chinese call: 'Interesting times.'