SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Daimler consultant Brett Stevens understands Zero Emission Trucks are a new product and hesitancy among cargo trucking companies is real, when many electric trucks, like the Daimler E-Cascadia, currently only have a 230-mile range.
Combined with a small charging infrastructure around the state, Stevens said the company is going that extra mile helping customers.
“We also go a little bit beyond building the truck,” he said. “We offer e-consulting services where we go hands-on with our customers, helping design depot layouts and their operational requirements.”
Stevens and Daimler are among a throng of companies and experts in the zero-emission vehicle field that have descended upon Sacramento for the 36th Electrical Vehicle Symposium to promote and discuss the future of the industry.
A big question for many waiting on possibly a cheaper used electric vehicle is if the batteries will still hold a charge well enough after many uses. Lead Researcher at nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute Dan Bowermaster said the batteries in cars are engineered differently to say a smartphone or laptop.
“EV batteries are kind of like humans, they like being 70 degrees,” Bowermaster said. “So, there’s systems in there that keep them warm when it’s called out and vice versa, you know. And that prolongs the battery life. So, what we’re seeing is the batteries actually lasting quite-a-bit longer again, to what a customer thinks of, when they think of smartphone or computer [battery].”
A somewhat forgotten piece of technology in the zero-emission vehicle discussion is hydrogen fuel cells. Lewis Fulton is a director with the University of California, Davis’s sustainable vehicle program and said hydrogen is a great solution for either cars or long-haul trucks.
“A 500-mile range is not a big problem for hydrogen, it is somewhat of a problem for electric trucks,” Fulton said. “The other thing is you can fuel rapidly.”
Fulton said you can refuel a hydrogen powered truck in around 10 to 15 minutes. For cars, he said, around five minutes.
Stevens said Daimler is working on a hydrogen powered truck.
“Daimler trucks really view a bundle of technologies helping to meet those future needs,” he said. “Whether that be hydrogen vehicles for that long-haul trucking application, megawatt charging systems, which allow the vehicle to take a faster charge.”
It’s flexibility in technologies, Stevens said, is what he believes will help create the new zero-emission future state lawmakers say needs to happen.