Experts Identify Benefits, Challenges of Battery Power
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ATLANTA — The effectiveness of lithium batteries depends on a host of issues for trucking industry representatives to consider, according to experts assembled at American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council annual meeting.
The panel spoke Feb. 25 at a session on batteries and electric vehicles convened by TMC’s study group dedicated to electrical equipment.
Yves Provencher, senior director of business development for the North American truck market for Lion Electric, identified a variety of factors that impact an EV’s battery life. These factors include road conditions, weather, traffic levels, the vehicle operator’s driving habits, truck specifications and the load itself. Lion Electric, which is based outside Montreal and has three locations in the U.S., manufactures trucks and buses.
“Energy efficiency on a truck is really about how the truck is driven,” Provencher said. “You cannot drive an electric truck the same way you drive a diesel truck.”
Rick Jordan, senior director of maintenance and engineering for UPS Inc.’s delivery fleet, said there are several benefits associated with EVs. For example, they don’t emit greenhouse gases. Fleets that use EVs don’t have to concern themselves with fuel quality or conduct oil and filter changes.
“All in all, we seek to save a certain amount of time and money inside our own operational routines when engaging with electric vehicles,” Jordan said.
However, these vehicles have risks and limitations, according to Jordan. One risk is range anxiety, which is a concern among drivers that charging stations may be so scarce that they will find themselves stranded with a drained battery.
In the event of a power disruption, Jordan reminded listeners that the expectation that everything will work normally when the power comes back on doesn’t apply with EVs. If an EV hasn’t had the time to charge properly, a driver can’t expect to use it for a haul immediately after power is restored.
Additionally, the requisite fixed charging locations in a company’s facility mean the fleet managers can’t adjust the lineup of vehicles. Jordan recommended fleets conduct a full evaluation to determine how many charging stations they can accommodate at their facilities. On the truck itself, the location of the plug port makes a difference, depending on how workers typically flow around a vehicle when it is stationed at a facility.
Provencher compared lithium batteries to cats because they have more than one life. When the battery starts to degrade, he said, it can be repurposed to vehicles that make shorter trips. In its third life, the battery can be used as stationary energy reservoir. In its final stage, the battery is recycled.
Ray Kubis, chairman of Gridtential Energy, said he estimates battery growth will be valued at $163 billion worldwide by 2023, and lithium batteries will account for $91 billion.
Gridtential, based in Silicon Valley, specializes in energy storage.
Mari McGowan, vice president of business development for LaunchIT Public Relations, suggested that, as the number of vehicles on the roads increases, the need for lithium batteries will increase, too.
“We’re going to have a supply challenge,” McGowan said. “We have a lot of planning to do.”
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