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Fraunhofer-ISI: Battery trucks will soon be competitive

(dpa) The use of an electric truck is expected to be economically viable in just a few years, according to the Fraunhofer Institute, which presents figures to support this claim. In particular, battery costs are dropping significantly.

Image: Uwe Anspach-dpa
Image: Uwe Anspach-dpa
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Johannes Reichel
von Nadine Bradl

Electric trucks in heavy-duty traffic are likely to be competitive in just a few years, according to the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research. They benefit "from rapidly falling costs for batteries and fuel cells," the researchers announced on Thursday in Karlsruhe. Battery trucks in particular are expected to "achieve techno-economic competitiveness with today's diesel trucks for most applications in the foreseeable future," said study author Steffen Link. 

Most Promising

The transformation will cost a lot of money. According to current knowledge, battery power is the most cost-effective and "most promising technology to at least reach the cost level of today's diesel trucks" in many applications. Range and payload are already sufficient for most logistics applications today. Battery trucks are also available on the market in large quantities faster than fuel cell trucks. Industry and politics should therefore quickly build up production capacities and a nationwide charging network, expand the power grid, and adjust regulations, recommend the researchers. 

Costs Will Decrease

In view of the cost development for key components, the institute expects that "battery system costs will soon fall below 200 EUR/kWh and could drop to 100 EUR/kWh in the late 2040s." The costs for fuel cell systems are likely to "significantly decrease to around 150 EUR/kW in the late 2030s." However, fuel cell trucks might be necessary as a supplement for areas that are difficult to electrify or for special transports. Therefore, support for their development seems appropriate.

Translated automatically from German.
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