{"id":3073,"date":"2019-07-13T19:09:52","date_gmt":"2019-07-13T17:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/?p=3073"},"modified":"2019-07-13T19:09:52","modified_gmt":"2019-07-13T17:09:52","slug":"3073","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2019\/07\/13\/3073\/","title":{"rendered":"Prediction: Electric Trucks Are Going to Be a Hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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At the end of the day, electric trucks aren’t all that exotic, says Senior Editor Jack Roberts. Which is why he predicts they’re going to be popular in urban delivery applications.\u00a0Photo: Jack Roberts<\/p>\n

Prediction: Electric Trucks Are Going to Be a Hit<\/h2>\n

On a brisk March morning in Atlanta, I climbed out of the cab of a medium-duty truck outfitted with Dana\u2019s latest electric drivetrain technology. And as I turned around and took in the vehicle\u00a0I\u2019d just taken on a Quick Spin\u00a0<\/a>through one of the nation\u2019s biggest and most congested cities, I had an epiphany: If you were brand new to trucking, and held no preconceived, historically driven conceptions of diesel or gasoline power, there\u2019s no reason in the world you wouldn\u2019t buy an electric truck to put to work in your urban delivery fleet.<\/p>\n

Yes. I know. Electric trucks are new. (They\u2019re not, really<\/a>. But let\u2019s just go with that thought for now.) And they\u2019re going to require a slightly different operational mentality. But in terms of differences with diesel or gasoline-powered trucks? It’s not as much as you might think.<\/p>\n

For starters, Dana chose a Peterbilt Model 220 as its test vehicle. People see these trucks every single day and hardly give them a second glance. In fact, the only reason someone might take note of the electric version of the truck rolling down a city street is because it\u2019s not emitting the usual diesel engine noises we\u2019ve come to take for granted over the past century.<\/p>\n

In terms of handling, comfort, visibility and performance, the electric Model 220 is either exactly the same \u2013 or better \u2013 than its diesel counterparts. The electric truck is immensely quieter inside the cab, to the point where a driver can hear outside noises \u2013 include people calling out warnings \u2013 much more clearly. In terms of low-end acceleration, the electric truck has more pep and gets up and going quicker than most gasoline or diesel trucks, which can help in easing traffic congestion.<\/p>\n

Now, as we all know, there is a finite daily battery charge on an all-electric truck. And that does, indeed, limit its operational range until it completes a currently lengthy recharge period to top off its batteries. But as I noted in my HDT Quick Spin detailing this drive, I\u2019m not so sure the range anxiety argument is going to carry much weight very much longer, at least in applications like this one’s designed for. An electric truck is what it is. It\u2019s designed to do a certain job in a certain place for a certain amount of time\/distance. Again, if you\u2019re willing to accept those operational conditions, and your application matches an electric truck\u2019s capabilities, there\u2019s no reason to not consider using them to get your work done.<\/p>\n

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A viewscreen in the cab of Dana’s all-electric Peterbilt Model 220 shows drivers the state of the powertrain, battery levels in real time and demonstrates that vehicle range rises and falls constantly throughout the day as a vehicle drives through a city like Atlanta.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ah, you say! What about acquisition costs? Those are much higher than a diesel or gasoline powered truck!<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s true. Right now. On the other hand, depending on where you’re located, there are numerous state and federal incentive plans available to help mitigate those costs. And every economic model we\u2019ve seen to date shows price points for batteries and electric drivetrain components are falling rapidly as production ramps up. Soon, it\u2019s likely electric trucks will be on par with conventional trucks in terms of acquisition costs. But even if they eventually wind up being, say, 25% more than a diesel or gasoline truck when it comes to purchase price, you\u2019re never going to buy a single drop of gasoline or diesel fuel for that vehicle \u2013 EVER.<\/em><\/p>\n

What that means is your operating costs are going to plummet. True, your electric bill is going to go up. But your daily, monthly and yearly energy costs to operate that vehicle are going to stabilize and become constant almost immediately. And you will largely be immune to any wild fuel price swings because of what someone in the Middle East decides to do.<\/p>\n

And yes \u2013 there are some upfront costs associated with switching your facilities over to handling recharging a fleet of electric trucks. But, as Rocco \u201cRocky\u201d DiRico, deputy commissioner for the Department of Sanitation, New York, told me last year<\/a>, those costs are minor compared with revamping a facility to handle CNG-powered trucks.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t forget about maintenance costs. Depending on who you\u2019re talking to, most experts say there are anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 fewer moving parts on an electric truck than one with an internal combustion engine. So it stands to reason that maintenance costs will reflect that factor in a significant way. My own impressions during my Atlanta test drive support that lower maintenance cost prediction, too. The regenerative braking system on the Dana-Peterbilt is so aggressive, I hardly applied the service brakes on the vehicle at all during my drive, which would mean far less brake maintenance.<\/p>\n

The point is this: Like anything new, there are both positives and negatives to operating electric trucks compared to conventionally powered vehicles. Most of the negatives don\u2019t impact fleet operations in an extreme way. Most of the positives do the exact opposite.<\/p>\n

What my Dana test drive in Atlanta this past week taught me is that at the end of the day, an electric truck is really just another truck. True, it has a slightly different propulsion system powering it. But that\u2019s it. We\u2019re not talking about wildly exotic technology here. We\u2019re not talking anything difficult to deal with in terms of how your fleet operates or your drivers behave. And my sense is that as more fleet managers climb behind the wheel of electric trucks and judge both those positives and negatives for themselves, more of them will start to feel the same way I do about this \u201cnew\u201d technology.<\/p>\n

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Originally posted on Trucking Info<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Author<\/h4>\n
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\"Jack<\/a>Jack Roberts<\/a><\/h5>\n

Senior Editor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As a licensed commercial driver, HDT senior editor Jack Roberts often reports on ground-breaking technical developments and trends in an industry being transformed by technology. With more than two decades covering trucking, in Truck Tech he offers his insights on everything from the latest equipment, systems and components, to telematics and autonomous vehicle technologies.<\/p>\n

View Bio<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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by Jack Roberts<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.fleetforward.com<\/a><\/p>\n

FLEET MANAGEMENT AUDIT<\/h3>\n

Fleet management is the use of a set of vehicles in order to provide services to a third-party, or to perform a task for our organization, in the most efficient and productive manner with a determined level of service and cost.<\/p>\n

Fleet management activities are shown in the following graph 1:<\/p>\n

\"fleet<\/p>\n

Graph 1: fleet management activities<\/p>\n

The proposal audit analyses and assesses all fleet management activities shown in the graph 1, and its main goals are:<\/p>\n