The race to clean up heavy-duty trucks

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Truckers have to transport massive loads long distances, every single day, under intense time pressure-and they rely on the semi-trucks they drive to get the job done. Their diesel engines spew not only greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, but also nitrogen oxide, which can be extremely harmful for human health.

Cleaning up trucking, especially the biggest trucks, presents a massive challenge. That's why some companies are trying to ease the industry into change. For my most recent story, I took a look at Range Energy, a startup that's adding batteries to the trailers of semi-trucks. If the electrified trailers are attached to diesel trucks, they can improve the fuel economy. If they're added to zero-emissions vehicles powered by batteries or hydrogen, they could boost range and efficiency.

During my reporting, I learned more about what's holding back progress in trucking and how experts are thinking about a few different technologies that could help.

The entire transportation sector is slowly shifting toward electrification: EVs are hitting the road in increasing numbers, making up 18% of sales of new passenger vehicles in 2023.

Trucks may very well follow suit-nearly 350 models of zero-emissions medium- and heavy-duty trucks are already available worldwide, according to data from CALSTART. I do see a lot of strength and demand in the battery electric space in particular," says Stephanie Ly, senior manager for e-mobility strategy and manufacturing engagement at the World Resources Institute.

But battery-powered trucks will pose a few major challenges as they take to the roads. First, and perhaps most crucially, is their cost. Battery-powered trucks, especially big models like semi-trucks, will be significantly more expensive than diesel versions today.

There may be good news on this front: When you consider the cost of refueling and maintenance, it's looking like electric trucks could soon compete with diesel. By 2030, the total cost of ownership of a battery electric long-haul truck will likely be lower than that of a diesel one in the US, according to a 2023 report from the International Council on Clean Transportation. The report looked at a number of states including California, Georgia, and New York, and found that the relatively high upfront cost for electric trucks are balanced out by lower operating expenses.

Another significant challenge for battery-powered trucking is weight: The larger the vehicle, the bigger the battery. That could be a problem given current regulations, which typically limit the weight of a rig both for safety reasons and to prevent wear and tear on roads (in the US, it's 80,000 pounds). Operators tend to want to maximize the amount of goods they can carry in each load, so the added weight of a battery might not be welcome.

Finally, there's the question of how far trucks can go, and how often they'll need to stop. Time is money for truck drivers and fleet operators. Batteries will need to pack more energy into a smaller space so that trucks can have a long enough range to run their routes. Charging is another huge piece here-if drivers do need to stop to charge their trucks, they'll need much more powerful chargers to enable them to top off quickly. That could present challenges for the grid, and operators might need to upgrade infrastructure in certain places to allow the huge amounts of power that would be needed for fast charging of massive batteries.

All these challenges for battery electric trucks add up. What companies are really looking for is something they can swap out," says Thomas Walker, transportation technology manager at the Clean Air Task Force. And right now, he says, we're just not quite in a spot where batteries are a clean and obvious switch.

That's why some experts say we should keep our options open when it comes to technologies for future heavy-duty trucks, and that includes hydrogen.

Batteries are currently beating out hydrogen in the race to clean up transportation, as I covered in a story earlier this year. For most vehicles and most people, batteries simply make more sense than hydrogen, for reasons that include everything from available infrastructure to fueling cost.

But heavy-duty trucks are a different beast: Heavier vehicles, bigger batteries, higher power charging, and longer distances might tip the balance in favor of hydrogen. (There are some big ifs" here, including whether hydrogen prices will get low enough to make hydrogen-powered vehicles economical.)

For a sector as tough to decarbonize as heavy-duty trucking, we need all the help we can get. As Walker puts it, It's key that you start off with a lot of options and then narrow it down, rather than trying to pick which one's going to win, because we really don't know."

Now read the rest of The SparkRelated reading

To learn more about Range Energy and how its electrified trailers could help transform trucking in the near future, check out my latest story here.

Hydrogen is losing the race to power cleaner cars, but heavy-duty trucks might represent a glimmer of hope for the technology. Dig into why in my story from earlier this year.

Getting the grid ready for fleets of electric trucks is going to be a big challenge. But for some short-distance vehicles in certain areas, we may actually be good to go already, as I reported in 2021.

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