Electric trucking has long been dismissed as too expensive and too impractical to compete with traditional diesel alternatives. However, a new report from Shell and its subsidiary SBRS suggests that framing misses the point.
The whitepaper argues that the real measure of viability when it comes to modern trucking is total cost of ownership, or TCO, which is the full lifecycle expense of running a vehicle.
Shell's modelling suggests that heavy-duty fleets that use an integrated charging network can register a TCO 10% lower than diesel models.
Naturally, this is a figure that has prompted keen interest across the logistics and energy sectors, but it is not without caveats, since the savings only materialise under certain conditions.
In today's market, electric trucks are still considered a luxury, generally costing between 1.6 and 2.3 times more than their diesel counterparts brand new. The second-hand market for these vehicles, meanwhile, is still small, immature and unpredictable.
