Challenges and opportunities in truck electrification revealed by big operational data

The electrification of trucks is a major challenge in achieving zero-emission transportation. Here we gathered year-long records from 61,598 electric trucks in China. Current electric trucks were found to be significantly underutilized compared with their diesel counterparts. Twenty-three per cent of electric delivery trucks and 30% of semi-trailers could achieve one-on-one replacement with diesel counterparts, while on average 3.8 electric delivery trucks and 3.6 electric semi-trailers are required to match the transportation demand that is served by one diesel truck separately. For diesel trucks that are capable of one-on-one replacement, electric trucks have 15–54% and 1–49% reductions in cost and life-cycle CO₂ emissions, respectively. Enhancements in usage patterns, vehicle technologies and charging infrastructure can improve electrification feasibility, yielding cost and decarbonization benefits. Increased battery energy densities with optimized usage can make one-on-one electrification feasible for more than 85% of diesel semi-trailers. In addition, with cleaner electricity, most Chinese electric trucks in 2030 will have lower expected life-cycle CO₂ emissions than diesel trucks.