ICCT Zero Emission Freight Trucks White Paper

WHITE PAPER SEPTEMBER 2017
TRANSITIONING TO ZERO-EMISSION
HEAVY-DUTY FREIGHT VEHICLES
Marissa Moultak, Nic Lutsey, Dale Hall
www.theicct.org
[email protected]
BEI J I NG | BERLIN | B R U SS E LS | SAN FRANCIS CO | WAS H INGTO N

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was conducted for the International Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Alliance
and is supported by its members (British Columbia, California, Connecticut, Germany,
Maryland, Massachusetts, the Netherlands, New York, Norway, Oregon, Québec, Rhode
Island, the United Kingdom, and Vermont). Members of the ZEV Alliance provided key
input on activities, demonstrations, and policy in each of their jurisdictions. Josh Miller
provided key data inputs to evaluate truck emissions. Members of the ZEV Alliance
provided critical reviews on an earlier version of the report. Their review does not imply
an endorsement, and any errors are the authors’ own.
International Council on Clean Transportation

1225 I Street NW Suite 900
Washington, DC 20005 USA
[email protected] | www.theicct.org | @TheICCT
© 2017 International Council on Clean Transportation

TRANSITIONING TO ZERO-EMISSION HEAVY-DUTY FREIGHT VEHICLES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive summary................................................................................................................... iii
I. Introduction..........................................................................................................................1
II. Review of heavy-duty vehicle technology developments............................................ 5

Heavy-duty vehicle policy background.......................................................................................... 5
Review of research literature..............................................................................................................6
Demonstrations and examples...........................................................................................................8
Commercial zero-emission trucks....................................................................................................13
III. Technology cost analysis .................................................................................................15

Vehicle cost of ownership...................................................................................................................15
Supporting infrastructure costs, viability, and implementation ..........................................21
IV. Analysis of emissions impacts.........................................................................................25

Vehicle technology greenhouse gas emissions ........................................................................25
Fleet level impacts of zero-emission truck penetration.........................................................27
V. Findings and conclusions................................................................................................ 30
References.................................................................................................................................35
Annex.........................................................................................................................................45
Annex References .................................................................................................................................51
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Global vehicle stock, distance traveled, and life-cycle road transport
greenhouse gas emissions by vehicle type in 2015. .................................................................... v
Figure 2. Projected global freight activity and life-cycle greenhouse gas

emissions from 2015 to 2050................................................................................................................vi
Figure 3. Ranges of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks currently

in development or production broken down by truck class.....................................................12
Figure 4. Cost of ownership in China, Europe, and the United States for
each long-haul heavy-duty truck technology for a vehicle purchased in
2015–2030 broken down by capital cost, maintenance cost, and fuel cost...................... 18
Figure 5. Additional cost for four different greenhouse gas reduction scenarios
compared to the reference case (all fossil fuel use) for the long-haul heavy-duty
freight transport sector in Germany (based on Kasten et al., 2016).....................................21
Figure 6. China, Europe, and U.S. lifecycle CO2 emissions over vehicle lifetime
(left axis) and per kilometer (right axis) by vehicle technology type................................ 24
Figure 7. Lifecycle CO2e emissions from Europe heavy-duty tractor-trailer

fleet from 2015–2050, with base case, efficiency improvements, fuel
cell-intensive, and electric-intensive scenarios............................................................................ 26
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Quantitative studies of medium- and heavy-duty electric-drive vehicles................ 4
Table 2. Medium-duty electric vehicle demonstration projects.....................................................7
Table 3. Heavy-duty electric vehicle demonstration projects....................................................... 8
Table 4. In-road and catenary charging heavy-duty electric vehicle

demonstration projects........................................................................................................................... 9
Table 5. Medium- and heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell vehicle demonstration projects......10
Table 6. Estimated vehicle component costs for vehicles purchased in 2015–2030........... 15
Table 7. Total estimated tractor-trailer capital costs (in thousands of 2015 U.S. dollars)..... 16
Table 8. Fuel carbon intensities (gCO2e/MJ) for 2015 and 2030 and the
percent reduction in emissions from 2015 to 2030................................................................... 23
Table 9. GHG emissions from EU tractor-trailers for baseline, fuel cell

vehicle–intensive, and electric vehicle–intensive scenarios for 2050,
with associated change in emissions............................................................................................... 27
Table 10. Summary of promising segments, benefits, and barriers for

zero-emission heavy-duty freight vehicle technologies...........................................................28
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A clear path toward decarbonization of the heavy-duty freight sector has been elusive.
Barriers to the growth of electric and hydrogen fuel cell heavy-duty commercial freight
trucks include limited technology availability, limited economies of scale, long-distance
travel requirements, payload mass and volume constraints, and a lack of refueling and
recharging infrastructure. Many governments and companies are seeking to break down
such barriers to help decarbonize heavy-duty freight trucks.
In this report, we assess zero-emission heavy-duty vehicle technology to support

decarbonization of the freight sector. We compare the evolution of heavy-duty diesel, diesel
hybrid, natural gas, fuel cell, and battery electric technologies in the 2025–2030 timeframe.
We synthesize data from the research literature, demonstrations, and low-volume
commercial trucks regarding their potential to deliver freight with zero tailpipe emissions.
We analyze the emerging technologies by their cost of ownership and life-cycle greenhouse
gas emissions for the three vehicle markets of China, Europe, and the United States.
Based on this work, we assess the relative advantages and disadvantages among
the various emerging electric-drive technologies. Table ES-1 summarizes our findings
regarding the zero-emission heavy-duty vehicle technology benefits and barriers
to widespread adoption. The table shows results for the three main zero-emission
technology areas: plug-in electric, catenary or in-road charging electric, and hydrogen
fuel cell vehicles. Each technology offers the prospect of lower carbon emissions, no
tailpipe emissions, and greater renewable energy use. Matching specific electric and
hydrogen technologies to particular truck segments can help overcome barriers such as
traveling range, infrastructure, and recharging time.
Table ES-1. Summary of promising segments, benefits, and barriers for zero-emission heavy-duty freight vehicle technologies.
Promising segments
Prevailing barriers to for widespread
Technology Benefits widespread viability commercialization
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Limited electric range
• Eliminate local air pollution • Light commercial urban
• Vehicle cost (battery) delivery vans
• Reduce fueling costs
Electric (plug-in) • Charging time (unless • Medium-duty regional
• Reduce maintenance costs battery swapping is delivery trucks
utilized)
• Increase energy efficiency • Refuse trucks
• Cargo weight and size
• Increase renewable energy use
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions • Infrastructure cost
• Eliminate local air pollution • Medium-duty trucks and
• Standardization across
heavy-duty tractor-trailers
• Reduce fueling costs regions
Electric on medium-distance
(catenary or in-road • Reduce maintenance costs • Complete infrastructure routes with high freight
charging) network before vehicle use
• Increase energy efficiency deployment
• Drayage trucks around
• Increase renewable energy use • Visual obstruction ports
• Enable regional travel (catenary)
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions

• Refueling infrastructure • Heavy-duty tractor-trailers
• Eliminate local air pollution
cost in long-haul operation
Hydrogen fuel cell • Increase energy efficiency
• Renewable hydrogen cost • Drayage trucks around
• Enable quick refueling time ports
• Vehicle costs (fuel cell)
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We also assess and discuss these factors to better understand the prospects for
widespread commercialization over the 2025 and beyond timeframe. Based on the
research findings, we draw the following three conclusions regarding emerging vehicle
zero-emission technologies for heavy-duty vehicles.
Electric-drive heavy-duty vehicle technologies are essential to fully decarbonize

the transport sector. Heavy-duty freight trucks are disproportionate contributors to
pollution, representing less than one tenth of all vehicles but roughly 40% of their
carbon emissions, and their activity keeps growing. Electric-drive technologies,
similar to those being commercialized in cars, will be essential to decarbonize the
heavy-duty sector and help meet climate stabilization goals. Whereas the more
efficient potential diesel technologies can reduce carbon emissions by about 40%,
electric-drive technologies powered by renewable sources can achieve over an 80%
reduction in fuel life-cycle emissions.
By 2030, electric-drive heavy-duty vehicle technologies could offer cost-effective

opportunities for deep emission reductions. Major projects involving heavy-duty
electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technologies show great potential due to
their much greater efficiency and use of available low-carbon fuel sources. We find
that overhead catenary electric heavy-duty vehicles would cost approximately
25%–30% less, and hydrogen fuel cells at least 5%–30% less, than diesel vehicles to
own, operate, and fuel in the 2030 timeframe. Key drivers for cost-effectiveness are
battery pack costs dropping to below $150 per kilowatt-hour, hydrogen fuel costs
dropping to below the per-energy-unit cost of diesel, and the cost of the associated
infrastructure decreasing over time.
Different electric-drive technologies are suitable for different heavy-duty vehicle

segments, but massive infrastructure investments would be needed. Advances in
battery packs and other electrical components will enable shorter distance urban
commercial vans to become plug-in electric, similar to cars. Battery electric vehicles
with overhead catenary or in-road charging can enable electric zero-emission
goods transport on and around heavily traveled freight corridors. Hydrogen fuel
cell technology might be especially key for longer-distance duty cycles. These
technologies each have formidable barriers and will require sustained and extensive
infrastructure investments by government and industry (e.g., overhead transmission,
in-road charging, hydrogen refueling stations).
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I. INTRODUCTION
The transition to electric-drive vehicles is widely regarded as critical for the transportation
sector. Electric-drive vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen fuel
cell vehicles, offer the potential for a vehicle fleet to shift away from petroleum fuels and
bring dramatic emission reductions that are needed to achieve long-term air quality and
climate change goals. The transition to electric drive is already beginning for passenger
automobiles, with millions of electric cars on roads around the world as of early 2017, and
the same technology is now available for light commercial vans. In addition, hundreds of
thousands of electric buses have been put into local service. Progress with heavy-duty
commercial freight vehicles has been more limited, with dozens of demonstrations and
prototypes, but few commercial offerings around the world.
There is growing interest in deploying advanced technologies in heavy-duty freight

vehicles for a number of reasons, including climate change, energy diversification,
and local air quality. The challenge of climate change provides a major overarching
motivation for most major national and local governments, and the breakdown of truck
activity helps underscore the imperative to focus not just on cars, but on heavy-duty
freight vehicles as well.
Figure 1 summarizes the breakdown of the world vehicle population, travel activity,
and greenhouse gas emissions. Freight trucks, which primarily operate on diesel (and
sometimes gasoline or natural gas), account for a large and growing share of local
pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions. Despite representing merely 9% of the global
vehicle stock and 17% of the total vehicle miles driven, freight trucks accounted for
approximately 39% of the life-cycle road vehicle greenhouse gas emissions, with the
share being even higher for other pollutants (ICCT, 2017; Miller and Façanha, 2014).
100% Trucks
9% Buses
1% 17%
90% Two-and three-wheelers
Light-duty vehicles
3% 39%
80%
30%
15%
70%
60%
7%
4%
50%
40%
65%
30% 59%
50%
20%
10%
0%
Vehicle Vehicle distance Greenhouse gas
population travelled emissions
Figure 1. Global vehicle stock, distance traveled, and life-cycle road transport greenhouse gas
emissions by vehicle type in 2015.
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Heavy-duty vehicles’ disproportionate contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions

is expected to increase for decades to come due to a substantial increase in road freight
activity. Figure 2 illustrates the global freight activity and the life-cycle greenhouse gas
emissions in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) from 2015 projected through 2050 (ICCT,
2017; Miller and Façanha, 2014). The figure shows freight activity for light, medium, and
heavy trucks in trillions of freight payload multiplied by distance traveled (corresponding
to the left axis). The figure also, with the grey line, illustrates the associated life-cycle
greenhouse gas emissions, including vehicle exhaust and upstream emissions to produce
the trucks’ fuels, based on business-as-usual vehicle efficiency trends (right axis). As
shown, from 2015 to 2050, global truck freight activity and truck life-cycle greenhouse
gas emissions are estimated to at least double under the business-as-usual scenario. The
figure also illustrates how much of the heavy-duty freight activity is from the heaviest
trucks—typically these are combination tractor-trailers with the tractors classified as
Class 8 in the North America, or trucks with greater than 15-ton weight capacity in
Europe. These heaviest vehicles represent over 60% of the freight truck metric ton-
kilometer activity and over 75% of the freight truck carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and
are the primary focus of this report.
Heavy truck activity Medium truck activity

Light commercial truck activity Total heavy-duty truck CO2e emissions
40 8
Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions (Billion metric ton CO2e)

Freight activity (trillion metric ton-km)
30 6
20 4
10 2
0 0
2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050
Figure 2. Projected global freight activity and life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions from 2015 to 2050.
In addition to the climate issues associated with the greenhouse gas emissions from
freight transport, the associated local air pollution, particularly of oxides of nitrogen and
particulate matter emissions, negatively impacts health and quality of life, particularly
in areas near concentrated freight activity. These burdens are disproportionally
experienced by the communities that live closest to freight hubs and corridors, most
typically populated by low-income residents.
2
Although increased vehicle efficiency and modern aftertreatment technology to reduce

tailpipe emissions offer the lowest-cost emissions reductions, there are a number of
more advanced emerging zero-emission vehicle technologies that could bring much
deeper reductions. The increasing scale of electric car production, with cumulative
global electric cars sales surpassing 2 million in the beginning of 2017, brings forth
major cost reductions in batteries. New longer range models are paving the way for
mainstream adoption. Furthermore, charging infrastructure to support such vehicles
continues to grow (Hall & Lutsey, 2017). Feeding the progress, governments around the
world are setting ever-ambitious targets to phase out combustion in favor of electric
cars and reinforcing efforts with supporting policy, incentives, and infrastructure (e.g.,
see Lutsey, 2015; Lutsey, 2017; Slowik & Lutsey, 2016).
Many governments seek to break down barriers to help decarbonize heavy-duty freight
trucks by leveraging their ongoing progress on electric cars. The activity and emissions
trends introduced above increasingly indicate that long-term climate and air quality goals
require that all major transport modes, including those for commercial freight, move
toward much lower emissions, including with the broad application of plug-in electric and
hydrogen fuel cell technology. Many of these technologies, in greater use in light-duty
vehicles, are also being explored for deployment in heavy-duty freight vehicles.
Zero-emission buses are being deployed in growing numbers, and this could also help
pave the way for zero-emission freight. Through 2016, this market development has
been dominated by China; the country had over 280,000 electric buses, or over 95%
of the world electric bus market (EV sales, 2017a, 2017b). Deployments of all-electric,
plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell buses in Europe and the U.S. are increasing (e.g., Eudy, Post,
& Jeffers, 2016; European Alternative Fuels Observatory, 2017). These bus deployments
increase the production volume of batteries, fuel cell stacks, on-vehicle power
electronics, electric motors, and charging and refueling equipment. This increasing
component volume helps the development of a supplier base that is also likely to
support heavy-duty freight technology. Likewise, the growing experience of charging
and refueling providers on these bus deployments puts them in stronger position for
installations for similar zero-emission freight applications in the future.
To inform such government activities on zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles, it is

important to gain a clearer understanding of the potential viability for the various
zero-emission heavy-duty vehicle technologies. Especially for the heaviest long-haul
tractor-trailers, the activity and emissions appear to be the most problematic, and
there appears to be a number of potential technology paths. Which technologies are
most appropriate for which applications? What are the potential climate benefits of
these vehicles considering their various fuel sources? What are the associated vehicle
technology costs? This paper seeks to address these questions and discuss the potential
for an electric drive heavy-duty fleet.
To help address these questions about the potential for deep emission cuts for
heavy-duty vehicles, we focus on electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technologies.
Various forms of these technologies would leverage electric and fuel cell developments
in cars, light-commercial vans, and buses. Beyond simply plugging in to the electric
grid, electric heavy-duty vehicles could use battery swapping stations or “e-roads”
with inductive dynamic charging embedded in roadways or via overhead catenary
electricity transmission. E-roads provide a continuous source of power to vehicles,
directly transmitting electricity to the electric motor and charging an on-board battery.
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When these catenary systems are deployed on various highway segments, they allow
for greater range and significantly smaller batteries. The vehicles used on e-roads are
equipped with either full electric drivetrains, where the pantograph or inductive coils
and power electronics are combined with a battery pack, or a hybrid drivetrain, with a
combustion engine. The hybrid drivetrain or additional battery capacity allow the vehicle
to travel greater range from the e-roads. Fuel cells use on-board hydrogen storage
and electrochemically convert hydrogen to electricity to power the vehicle to enable
long-range and quick fuel times. Each of these options provides the potential for much
greater on-vehicle efficiency and renewable energy sources.
In Section II, we review heavy-duty vehicle technology developments to compile data

from the research literature, demonstration fleets, and low-volume commercial truck
models and provide context for analysis of zero-emission technologies that follows.
Then, in Section III, we assess the major vehicle technologies, comparing the evolution
of diesel, diesel hybrid, natural gas, fuel cell, battery electric, dynamic induction grid,
and overhead catenary in the 2025–2030 timeframe in a vehicle-related cost-of-
ownership framework. In Section IV, we analyze these technologies by their life-cycle
greenhouse gas emissions, including upstream fuel cycle emissions, based on the three
vehicle markets of China, Europe, and the U.S. Finally, in Section V, we summarize and
discuss the results.
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II. REVIEW OF HEAVY-DUTY VEHICLE

TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS
To provide context and additional background for the analysis below, this section first
introduces existing heavy-duty vehicle policy. In the subsequent subsections, we summarize
the associated research literature, physical truck demonstrations, and announced
commercial truck offerings regarding zero-emission heavy-duty vehicle technologies.
HEAVY-DUTY VEHICLE POLICY BACKGROUND

Because of the projected increase in heavy-duty activity, and with more stringent efficiency
standards implemented for light-duty vehicles compared to heavy-duty-vehicles, the
portion of greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty vehicles is expected to continue to
increase under business-as-usual conditions. A primary driver for this trend is that freight
vehicle efficiency will tend to remain relatively constant without regulations that require
available efficiency technologies be deployed (Davis, Williams, & Boundy, 2016; Muncrief
& Sharpe, 2015). To date, only a handful of countries—Canada, China, Japan, and the U.S.—
have implemented efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions standards. The European Union
is widely expected to propose heavy-duty CO2 regulations in the near future. Standards in
the EU will likely open the doors for other countries in Asia and Latin America that pattern
their standards on the European Commission’s vehicle regulations. Less than half of heavy-
duty new vehicle sales globally are regulated for efficiency or CO2, compared to over 80% of
the world’s passenger vehicles (Miller and Façanha, 2014).
By improving engine efficiency, aerodynamics, and aftertreatment technology, there

is the potential for substantial, highly cost-effective improvements in heavy-duty
vehicle efficiency and emissions. In the U.S., the efficiency and CO2 regulations will cut
business-as-usual heavy-duty vehicle fuel use by over one third by 2050 (Sharpe et al.,
2016). Although the necessary technology improvements to meet those standards have
an associated increase in technology costs, the fuel efficiency improvements lead to
expected payback periods ranging from 2 to 4 years for the various vehicle types. The
efficiency regulations include special provisions for electric trucks (e.g., disregarding
upstream emissions and providing multipliers to count them multiple times), but they
are not expected to play significantly in regulatory compliance (Lutsey, 2017; U.S. EPA
and U.S. DOT, 2016). Electric-drive truck technology is similarly not needed to comply
with near-term conventional pollutant emission regulations, where technologies such
as exhaust gas recirculation systems and diesel particulate filters can greatly reduce
negative health impacts associated with heavy-duty diesel engines. For manageable
costs of approximately $7,000 per vehicle, nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter
(PM) emissions could be reduced by over 95% (Posada, Chambliss, & Blumberg, 2016)
for vehicles that can typically cost well over $100,000.
These technologies are attractive for near-term progress, but this incremental approach
is more limited in the long-term, when much deeper emission cuts are necessary to
meet government environmental goals and global climate protection commitments. In
the 2030–2045 timeframe, advanced efficiency technologies are expected to offer a
potential fuel consumption reduction of 40%–52% in combination tractor-trailers, and up
to 30%–36% for rigid delivery trucks (Delgado, Miller, Sharpe, & Muncrief, 2016). Looking
beyond truck efficiency improvements, freight transport efficiency gains through
further optimization of routes and sharing trucks and warehouses between companies
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could reduce CO2 emissions by one third (OECD/ITF, 2017). In addition, biofuels can
be a partial solution, if and when broader sustainability and indirect land use change
impacts are more fully addressed. However, with the anticipated increase in heavy-duty
vehicle freight shipping and with their slow fleet turnover, even widespread adoption
of these approaches would still not result in a net improvement in CO2 emissions and
fuel consumption in 2050 compared to 2015. To meet international climate stabilization
goals, more ambitious emissions-reduction approaches, including zero-emission heavy-
duty vehicles using low-carbon upstream energy sources, will be necessary.
REVIEW OF RESEARCH LITERATURE

Although few zero-emission heavy-duty commercial freight vehicles are on the road
today, a variety of studies over the past 5 years have considered the feasibility of
a number of technologies and their potential to reduce emissions. Table 1 lists the
associated technical research studies and identifies the vehicle types, technologies,
and analytical estimates in each report. Because of the uncertain and quickly changing
technologies involved, cost estimates and conclusions vary greatly between the reports.
In addition, the scope of each report varies greatly, including which region, truck types,
duty cycles, and fuel cost assumptions were considered.
Table 1. Quantitative studies of medium- and heavy-duty electric-drive vehicles.
Vehicle Types Technology Analysis

Battery Fuel
Study Region Timeframe LCV MDV HDV electric Cell Catenary Cost CO2 Fleet
den Boer,
Aarnink, Kleiner, & Europe 2030 X X X X X X X
Pagenkopf, 2013
Fulton & Miller, 2015 California 2050 X X X X X X
Gladstein, Neandross
California 2020 X X X X X X
& Associates, 2012
Wood, Wang, United
Present X X X X X
Gonder, & Ulsh, 2013 States
Silver & Brotherton,
California 2050 X X X X X
2013
Europe,
South
Kleiner et al, 2015 Present X X X X X
Korea,
Turkey
CARB, 2015a California 2030 X X X X X
CARB, 2015b California 2025 X X X X X
Zhao, Burke, & Zhu, United
Present X X X X X
2013 States
Connolly, 2016 Denmark 2050 X X X X X
Löfstrand et al., 2013 Sweden 2025 X X X X
Sen, Ercan, & Tatari, United
2040 X X X X
2016 States
United
Lee & Thomas, 2016 Present X X X X
States
LCV = light commercial vehicle; MDV = medium-duty vehicle; HDV = heavy-duty vehicle
6
Based on the research literature, plug-in electric vehicles are being considered for a
number of applications in the medium- and heavy-duty sectors. Electric vehicles’ high
efficiency, generally 3 to 4 times more efficient than diesel and natural gas engines,
results in a reduction in primary energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (e.g.,
Chandler, Espino, & O’Dea, 2016). These vehicles are most suited for applications with
short ranges and duty cycles that can take advantage of regenerative braking and where
required electric battery packs sizes are lower (CARB, 2015b). An analysis of duty cycles
suggests urban delivery vans and delivery trucks, refuse trucks, and drayage trucks as
targets for electrification (Kelly, 2016).
The potential for electric-drive medium-duty delivery trucks was analyzed in several
different studies. Löfstrand et al. (2013) estimate that battery electric trucks will have
the lowest total cost of ownership of any powertrain option by 2025 for scenarios with
short routes and high utilization. Similarly, the California Hybrid, Efficient and Advanced
Truck Research Center expects electrified delivery trucks to be ready for widespread
commercial implementation, with a 3- to 5-year return-on-investment, around 2020 (Silver
& Brotherton, 2013). Other assessments are even more optimistic, with one showing that
battery electric delivery vehicles are already cheaper in total cost of ownership than diesel
vehicles in several countries when considering tax policies (Kleiner et al., 2015).
Battery-powered drivetrains could also be used in other types of heavy-duty vehicles,

including various types of vocational vehicles. Drayage trucks, which operate over
shorter distances (less than 60 miles) around ports, could be an early market for
heavy-duty truck electrification (Chandler et al., 2016). Refuse trucks, which have
similar duty cycles to urban buses and are based out of a central location each day, are
potentially well suited to be powered by batteries, reducing noise and pollution in urban
environments (CARB, 2015a).
To overcome the charging time barrier of plug-in battery electric medium- and heavy-
duty vehicles, battery-swapping technology could be used. Such an approach would
require that truck or tractor designs accommodate multiple daily battery pack swaps,
battery-swapping stations are deployed on key routes, and a larger stock of battery
packs is managed as a system. The time to replace the battery would then become
competitive with refueling time, but they would still require more stops daily than
conventional diesel if used on long-haul operation (see den Boer et al., 2013). Because of
the infrastructure and system level complexities, only a few projects have been become
operational. Since 2013, a fleet of electric buses in Qingdao, China, have extensively
utilized battery swapping, and testing is expected on electric trucks in Québec starting
in 2018 (La Presse, 2016; Phoenix Contact, 2013). The India-based partnership between
Ashok Leyland and Sun Mobility also began investigating options in 2017 for a battery-
swapping system, starting with bus and delivery van applications (Mohile, 2017).
Fuel cells are also receiving significant attention as an option for medium- and heavy-duty
applications. Using hydrogen as their fuel source, fuel cell electric vehicles offer longer
ranges with shorter refuel times, compared to battery-electric vehicle recharging. Fuel
cell stacks, capable of greater than 50% efficiency, are much more efficient than diesel
systems, which typically have maximum engine efficiencies of 37%–39% (Chandler et al.,
2016; Thiruvengadam et al., 2014). Several studies have identified fuel cells as a potential
solution to applications like suburban delivery trucks, drayage trucks, and shuttle buses
where flexibility and long range is needed. One estimate suggests that hydrogen fuel-cell
range-extending motors become competitive with plug-in electric vehicles at ranges over
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60 miles, although falling battery prices may affect this trade-off (Wood et al., 2013).
Nonetheless, hydrogen-powered vehicles face challenges, including high hydrogen costs
and a lack of refueling infrastructure, which government interventions are seeking to
overcome (CARB, 2015b). Because of the high costs of fuel cells and hydrogen, Kleiner
et al. (2015) calculate that fuel cell delivery vehicles have higher total cost of ownership
compared to conventional, hybrid, or battery electric vehicles.
E-roads and catenary electric-drive technologies have also been proposed as a long-
term solution for the heavy-duty sector. Such projects have higher infrastructure costs
and are therefore primarily considered for heavily used freight corridors (e.g., near
ports or highways between major cities). Despite these high up-front investments,
catenary-hybrid trucks offer low fuel and maintenance costs, and one study found them
to be competitive with conventional heavy-duty Class 8 vehicles (i.e., those over 15-ton
weight capacity) for near-dock drayage applications (Gladstein, Neandross & Associates,
2012). This technology, whether combined with an internal combustion engine or a
limited battery system, results in lower vehicle prices compared to full electric or fuel
cell heavy-duty trucks, but the primary obstacle is the construction of a catenary system
(den Boer et al., 2013). Other types of “e-roads” are also under consideration, including
inductive charging and conductive on-road strips. These systems could potentially
lower infrastructure costs and enable use by a wider variety of vehicles and be relatively
cost-effective in the future, although these technologies are generally less mature than
overhead catenary systems (Connolly, 2016).
DEMONSTRATIONS AND EXAMPLES

Electric vehicles are starting to enter the medium- and heavy-duty vehicle markets
through fleets and demonstration projects. Electric transit buses, school buses, shuttle
buses, and medium-duty vehicles (primarily for delivery purposes) are becoming
increasingly commercially available, but the transition to zero-emission heavy-duty
long-haul tractor-trailers is particularly challenging and is currently only in the prototype
phase. The various zero-emission vehicle technologies face cost barriers, and in some
cases real-world performance barriers as well, but the demonstration projects help
resolve such issues while costs are decreasing.
Tables 2 through 5 summarize available information on such zero-emission truck projects

across vehicle technology types and vehicle classes. The demonstration projects are
categorized according to medium-duty electric (Table 2), heavy-duty electric (Table 3),
in-road and catenary electric charging (Table 4), and hydrogen fuel cell trucks (Table
5). We apply the approximate designation of “medium-duty” as U.S. weight Classes
3 through 6 (below 12-metric ton gross curb weight in Europe) and typically straight
trucks, and “heavy-duty” as U.S. weight Classes 7 and 8 (above 12 metric tons in Europe)
that are normally combination tractor-trailers. However, there is some ambiguity in that
the demonstration truck projects do not all have clear weight specifications, and some
of the projects span vehicle types. As shown, the wide-ranging zero-emission truck
initiatives cover a spectrum of technologies, locations, fleet applications, manufacturer
and other stakeholders, and truck fleet sizes.
8
Table 2. Medium-duty electric vehicle demonstration projects.
Technology Organization Location Time frame Description Source
Frito Lay,
(2016);
More than 250 Smith Newton electric delivery trucks. Project
Class 6 electric Prohaska,
Frito Lay United States 2013 evaluates 10 of these delivery trucks to better understand the
delivery trucks Ragatz,
effectiveness of electric trucks in real-world applications.
Simpson, &
Kelly (2016)
Eight vehicles used in trials for short-range delivery and

Portugal 2014–2015 FUSO (2015)
inner-city transport.
Fuso Canter E-Cell/
Daimler Trucks
Fuso eCanter
Stuttgart, Testing of five Fuso Carter E-Cell trucks by the parcel service Daimler
2016
Germany provider Hermes. (2016a,b)
Electric delivery CWS, Boco, UPS, Smith North Rhine- A 2-year demonstration project that took data of 107,402
vehicles for urban Electric Vehicles, EFA-S, Westphalia, 2011–2015 km driven by battery-powered electric trucks for urban Stütz (2015)
distribution TCDi, Busch-Jaegen Germany distribution.
Testing of the all-electric D-range on delivery rounds of over

Electric delivery Volvo Group
Renault Trucks Paris, France 2015 200 km with multiple battery recharge times during a 24-
trucks (2015)
hour operating cycle.
Renault Trucks is testing two concept trucks that combined

E-trucks—all
Renault’s all-electric Midlum with an electric powered Volvo Group
electric trucks with Renault Trucks Switzerland 2016
refrigerated body capable of carrying 3 metric tons of (2015)
refrigerated body
refrigerated products.
German Post AG,

Electric parcel CO2 GoGreen aimed to improve the vehicle technology, Appel (2013);
StreetScooter GmbH, Bonn,
and letter delivery 2012–2016 infrastructure technology, energy supply, and process design BMUB
Langmatz GmbH, RWTH Germany
trucks for using electric vehicles in parcel and letter delivery. (2016c)
Aachen University, BMUB
Maxity electric Pilot customers operated between 10 and 30 pre-production Renault

Renault Trucks France 2010
delivery truck all electric trucks for deliveries. Trucks (2010)
CalHEAT, California Energy Comprehensive performance evaluation of 3 E-Truck models

Electric parcel Southern Gallo & Tomić
Commission, Navistar, 2012 using in-use data collection, on-road-testing, and chassis
delivery trucks California (2013)
FCCC, Smith dynamometer testing.
UPS deployed 100 electric medium-duty delivery trucks

Electric delivery EVI (2011);
UPS, EVI California 2013 to their California fleet, offsetting 126,000 gallons of
truck UPS (2017)
conventional motor fuel per year.
BAAQMD, CARB, San

Goodwill is introducing 11 all-electric trucks to its truck fleet in
Electric delivery Francisco Goodwill, the Bay Area, CARB (2016a,
2017 3 Californian counties, a $4.4 million project funded through
trucks Center for Transp. and California 2016b)
California’s cap-and-trade program, BAAQMD, and Goodwill.
Environment, BYD Corp.
SJVUAPCD, Motiv Power Deployment of 20 zero-emission electric walk-in-vans and the CARB (2016a,
Electric delivery Systems, AmeriPride Central Valley, necessary charging infrastructure for deliveries in the Central 2016b);
2016
trucks Services, CALSTART, First California Valley, focused on disadvantaged communities. Funded SJVUAPCD
Priority Bus Sales through $7.1M grant from CARB, $5.8M from partners. (2016)
SJVAPCD, USPS, EDI, Deployment of 15 all electric USPS “step vans” and the
Stockton
Electric parcel Motiv Power Systems, necessary charging infrastructure to form the basis of a USPS CARB (2016a,
& Fresno, 2016
delivery truck Morgan Olson, CALSTART, Advanced Vehicle Cluster. The project received $4.5M in 2016b)
California
SunEdison California funds.
Houston- Deployment of 18 all electric delivery trucks, estimated to

Electric delivery UPS, H-GAC, CTE, US DOE,
Galveston 2015 avoid the consumption of 1.1 million gallons of diesel fuel over UPS (2015)
truck Workhorse Group
area, Texas 20 years.
Implementation of a smart charging system with energy

Electric delivery
UPS Limited Feltham, UK 2017 storage to increase the number of vehicles that can be UK (2017)
truck
charged at a depot.
Electric delivery
Gnewt Cargo Southwark, UK 2017 Lease of 33 electric vehicles for last-mile logistics. UK (2017)
vehicles
Purolator is testing of an all-electric delivery truck developed

Electric delivery Québec, by Nordresa. The trials show electric trucks saving an average
Nordresa, Purolator 2017 AVEQ (2017)
truck Canada of 0.60 $CAN per kilometer resulting in profitable operation
within 2 years.
Rotterdam, Deployed and tested 16 7.5-ton electrically retrofitted P80E FREVUE

Electric delivery
UPS, FREVUE Netherlands; 2014–2015 Mercedes T2 in London and 4 in Rotterdam with charging (2017b,
truck
London, UK infrastructure. 2017c)
FREVUE, Arup, Smith Deployment of a 10-ton and 12-ton all electric Smith Newton
Electric logistics FREVUE
Newton, The Crown Estate, London, UK 2014 to accommodate increased delivery volume from a depot to a
truck (2017e)
Clipper Logistics consolidation center.
Netherlands
Electric delivery Amsterdam, Enterprise
UPS 2013 UPS deployed 6 electric parcel delivery trucks in Amsterdam.
trucks Netherlands Agency
(2016)
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Table 3. Heavy-duty electric vehicle demonstration projects.
Statewide demonstration project of 43 zero-emission

SCAQMD, the State of
Zero-emission battery electric and plug-in hybrid drayage trucks SCAQMD
California, BYD, Kenworth, California 2016
drayage trucks used to transport goods over short distances from (2016a)
Peterbilt, and Volvo
ports to distribution centers and rail yards.
Demonstration of 4 Class 8 fully battery electric

TransPower
Electric Class 8 truck TransPower California 2015 trucks from San Diego County 110 miles to the Los
(2015)
Angeles-Long Beach port region.
Two-year demonstration project of 23 battery-electric

San Class 8 yard trucks and 4 Class 5 medium-duty
Electric Class 8
BYD, San Bernardino Bernardino, service trucks for use in rail yards and large-scale
yard trucks & Class BYD (2016);
Associated Governments Commerce, 2016–2018 freight distribution centers, replacing diesel-powered
5 medium-duty CARB (2017)
(SANBAG), & BNSF Railway & Fontana, heavy-duty tractors. The State of California awarded
service trucks
California $9 million, through the California Climate Investments
(CCI) program.
The City of Chicago uses an all-electric refuse

Electric heavy-duty Motiv Power Systems & the
Chicago, Illinois 2014 truck in different refuse and recycling routes up Motiv (2014)
refuse truck City of Chicago
to 60 miles long.
Zero-emission city distribution project- 8 hybrid

Zero-emission
EMOSS B.V., Hytruck Netherlands 2013–2014 and electric trucks with 2 fully electric 19-ton trucks EMOSS (2016)
distribution trucks
(largest electric trucks of their kind in Europe)
Battery electric waste disposal with robot support

Battery electric FAUN Umwelttechnik GmbH (BEAR) is a project that develops and implements
Germany 2017–2019 BMUB (2016a)
waste disposal & Co. KG, DFKI, BEG, BMUB a fully electric refuse pilot truck to be tested by the
Bremerhaven waste disposal company for 12 months.
One electric body waste collection truck and two

Bradley
Auckland & side-loader waste collection trucks for late 2016/ early
Electric heavy-duty Waste Management NZ & (2016); Waste
Christchurch, 2016–2017 2017. Electricity will come from the gas emissions
refuse truck EMOSS Management
New Zealand for a local landfill. First step in Waste Management
NZ (2016)
transition to all electric.
INTERREG, EU, LIOF, FIER

North Limburg, Green Electric Last Mile (eGLM)—A project
Automotive, Köppen, eGLM (2017);
Electric heavy-duty Netherlands implementing 9 40- to 50-ton electric heavy-duty
Samskip, CTV, KLG Europe, 2017 Weken &
logistic trucks & Duisburg, trucks in the cross-border logistics region of North
Meulenberg Transport, Kroon (2017)
Germany Limburg-Duisburg
Limburg
Electric heavy-duty Amsterdam

FREVUE, Heineken, Simon Testing of 6 12-ton and 1 19-ton electric freight trucks FREVUE
trucks for beverage & Rotterdam, 2017
Loos, in Heineken’s delivery truck fleet. (2017a)
distribution Netherlands
Autobus Lion, TM4, Designing and manufacturing four prototypes (two

Government
Electric freight AddÉnergie Technologies, Québec, freight trucks and two passenger buses). The project
2017 of Québec
trucks Solution Adetel, Alcoa Canada is valued at 17.2 million CAN with 8.6 million $CAN
(2016)
Canada funding from the government.
Norsk
Phoenix Danmark, Norsk Sparsborg, Two refurbished electric refuse trucks, each truck is
Electric refuse truck 2017 elbilforening
Gjenvinning Norway expected to save 60 metric tons of CO2 per year
(2017)
Norway’s first electric distribution truck in operation,

used to deliver food to city-center shops. 18-ton Dalløkken
Electric delivery (2016)
ASKO Oslo, Norway 2016 refrigeration truck with 240-kWh battery capacity,
truck
200 km range, and cost ~$4 million NOK (~$470,000),
twice that of diesel truck.
Motiv Power Systems, Crane State’s first all-electric garbage truck deployed in
Sacramento, PR Newswire
Electric refuse truck Carrier, Loadmaster, and the 2017 the city of Sacramento. It is expected to save 6,000
California (2017)
City of Sacramento gallons of fuel per year.
Electric delivery EMOSS, FREVUE, Rotterdam, Testing of one 19-ton EMOSS truck in Rotterdam by FREVUE
truck BREYTNER Netherlands BREYTNER Transportation. (2017d)
BMW Group, SCHERM Munich, 40-ton electric truck for material transport from a BMW Group
Electric truck 2015
Group, Terberg Germany logistic center, charged with renewable electricity (2015)
“EN-WIN” is 18-month field trial of electric vehicles

Fraunhofer IML, TU
in the food, textile, and distribution logistics. Data to
Electric commercial Berlin, Hochschule Fulda,
Germany 2017–2019 develop forecasting tool on e-commercial vehicles. BMUB (2017a)
vehicles Florida Eis, Meyer Logistik,
Part two of project is to construct a 26 t electric
Meyer&Meyer, BMUB
vehicle for urban traffic use.
Freight electric Dresden, CitE-Truck project: Emons to deploy three electric BMUB
Emons Spedition, BMUB 2016–2018
vehicles Germany heavy-duty vehicles (12t and 18t) (2016b)
Terex MHPS, Hamburger

Neuss &
Electric terminal Hafen und Logisitik, Terminal truck project to develop and test battery- BMUB
Hamburg, 2012–2017
truck Hermann Paus, Neuss powered terminal trucks for container handling. (2016g)
Germany
Trimodal, Maschinenfabrik
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Table 4. In-road and catenary charging heavy-duty electric vehicle demonstration projects.
Developing a 200-meter test tract to demonstrate

Conductive rail to Elonroad and Lund Outside Lund, Elonroad
2017 “Elonraod” (a conductive rail that is laid on top of the
charge all vehicles University Sweden (2016)
road to charge all vehicle types).
Lathen, Currently testing a 25-meter track with contactless

Wireless power road INTIS INTIS, 2016
Germany inductive charging of all vehicles.
Elväg AB, NCC, KTH

Demonstrated conductive underneath charging for all
Conductive rail to University, Swedish Energy Connolly, D.
Sweden vehicles on a test track and currently a 2 km pilot is
charge all vehicles Agency, & Arlandastad (2016)
under construction.
Holding AB
Conductive in-road 400-meter test track with two power lines built into Volvo
Hällered,
charging for heavy- Volvo and Alstom 2012 the surface of the road and a current collector on the Trucks
Sweden
duty vehicles truck that connects to the road. (2013)
Los Angeles & Siemens

Catenary electric One-mile of highway equipped with a catenary system
Siemens, Volvo, SCAQMD Long Beach, 2017 (2014,
trucks in both direction for freight transport near ports.
California 2016b)
Catenary electric Siemens, BASt, TU Dresden, ELANO project is a research and development project
BMUB
system—heavy EDAG, DLR, LBST, NOW, Germany 2016–2019 for catenary electric system powered by renewable
(2016d)
commercial IFEU energy for heavy-duty commercial vehicles.
ENUBA – a study and demonstration on a private

Outside
Catenary heavy road that examined the electrification of heavy-duty BMUB
Siemens of Berlin, 2010–2011
commercial vehicles commercial vehicles in conurbations with a catenary (2016e)
Germany
system.
ENUBA 2 – a 2km overhead catenary system

for heavy-duty vehicles and an extension for BMUB
Catenary electric DLR, Siemens, TU Dresden, Gross Dölln, 4/2012– bus applications. The project researched vehicle (2016f),
trucks, eHighway BMUB, Scania Germany 12/2015 technology, the relevant traffic, energy, ecological, Scania
economic, and legal aspects and tested the (2014)
functionality and reliability of such vehicles.
LBV-SH, Forschungs-und FESH I – Planning and construction phase of 6 km of

1/1/2017– BMUB
Entwicklungszentrum overhead catenary infrastructure in both directions,
12/31/2018 (2017b)
Fachhochschule Kiel GmbH supported by a €14 million subsidy from BMUB.
Hamburg
eHighway field FESH II – Field testing of the system supported by
– Lübeck,
trial—overhead a €3-4 million subsidy from BMUB. The goal of the
LBV-SH, TU Dresden, Schleswig
catenary electric system is to have trucks powered purely electrically
FH Keil, Spedition Bode, Holstein,
trucks mid the 25 km from the Lübeck harbor to the logistics BMUB
Stadtwerke Lübeck, Germany
2018–2021 center – 12 km (6 km each direction) through a (2017b)
Lübecker Hafengesellschaft,
catenary system and the remaining 38 km through an
Scania, Siemens
onboard battery pack. Initially diesel hybrid trucks will
be included in the study to ensure reliability.
ELISA I – Planning and construction of about 6 km of

Hessen Mobil Strassen – und overhead catenary lines in both directions to allow
1/1/2017– BMUB
Verkehrsmanagement, TU for trucks to travel over 15 km electrically powered.
12/31/2018 (2017b)
Darmstadt The project is funded by a €14.6 million subsidy from
eHighway field Frankfurt –
BMUB.
trial—overhead Darmstadt,
catenary electric Hesse,
ELISA II – Field testing of the system supported by a
trucks Germany
Power Supplier, Vehicle €3-4 million subsidy from BMUB. The goal is to allow
mid BMUB
Manufacture (possibly for emission-free delivery of goods in the Frankfurt
2018–2021 (2017b)
Scania), Siemens urban area and to provide a guide and basis for future
system expansion.
World’s first eHighway system on public roads.

June Operating two adapted diesel hybrid vehicles under Siemens
eHighway Siemens and Scania Sweden
2016–2018 a catenary system spanning two kilometers on the (2016a)
highway.
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Table 5. Medium- and heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell vehicle demonstration projects.
Demonstration of 20 hydrogen fuel cell

extended-range battery electric parcel
Hydrogen fuel
FedEx, US Department Memphis, May 2016– delivery trucks operating one 10-hour shift for
cell medium-duty Griffin
of Energy, Plug Power, Tennessee & October 260 days annually for approximately 1.92 years
parcel delivery (2016)
Workhorse Group California 2019 (~5,000 hours per truck). Project received
truck
$3.0 million in funding from the DOE and
$3.367 million from partners.
Maxity Electric
A year field test by the French Post Office of Renault
Truck with Renault Trucks and
France 2015 Renault’s Maxity Electric Truck equipped with Trucks
fuel cell range French Post Office
a hydrogen-powered fuel cell. (2015)
extender
Hydrogen fuel CTE, UPS, Univeristy of

The project will retrofit 17 delivery vans with CTE (2016);
cell hybrid Texas, EVI, Hydrogenics
California 2014– fuel cell hybrid technology and test them at Satyapal
electric parcel USA, Valance
distribution facilities in California. (2014)
delivery truck Technology
Three-year demonstration project of three

Environmental Defense
zero-emission heavy-duty Class 8 drayage
Fund, US DOE, (H-GAC),
Hydrogen fuel Port of trucks powered by a hydrogen fuel cell –
Gas Technology
cell drayage Houston, 2015– electric hybrid power system at the Port Wolfe (2015)
Institute, US Hybrid,
truck Texas of Houston. The project received $3.4 M in
Richardson Trucking,
federal funding and the project partners
University of Texas
committed to funding $3.0 M.
Alameda
Corridor, The “Advanced Fuel Cell Vehicle Technology
Hydrogenics, Siemens,
Fuel cell drayage Port of Los Demonstration for Drayage Truck” is a project Hydrogenics
Total Transportation 2015–
truck Angeles & demonstrating a hydrogen fuel cell powered (2015)
Services (TTSI)
Long Beach, Class 8 drayage truck.
California
Hydrogen fuel Port of Los

SCAQMD, CTE, June 2015– Development and demonstration of 6 battery SCAQMD
cell hybrid Angeles &
TransPower, U.S. Hybrid, September electric trucks with hydrogen fuel cell range (2014,
battery electric Long Beach,
Hydrogenics USA 2018 extenders for drayage applications. 2016b)
drayage trucks California
3 three-axle electric distribution trucks

Hydrogen fuel powered by hydrogen fuel cells used for
Scania
cell distribution Scania and Asko Norway 2016 distribution services of almost 500 km. The
(2016)
trucks hydrogen gas will be locally produced from
solar cells.
Ports of
Toyota will test fuel cell trucks system, Project
Fuel cell drayage LA & Long Summer Toyota
Toyota Portal, to determine the feasibility of using
truck Beach, 2017 (2017)
fuel cell trucks for port drayage applications.
California
As seen in Tables 2 through 5, many of the truck demonstration projects to date have
been concentrated in California, Germany, and the Netherlands, with several of the
electric road charging projects being carried out in Sweden. The Californian, German,
and Swedish governments have spurred demonstration projects in their respective
regions with government support, both financially and through direct government
involvement. For the 2014–2015 and 2015–2016 fiscal years alone, the California Air
Resources Board allocated $84 million in grants for zero-emission truck and bus pilot
commercial deployment projects (CARB, 2015c, 2015d). Governments have also shown
support through direct involvement in carrying out research and development projects.
For example, in 2016, the government of Québec supported a project for all-electric
heavy-duty vehicles that included the manufacturing of four prototypes, including
two passenger buses and two freight trucks. In 2017, as part of their partnership for
innovation, the German and Swedish governments have been conducting a joint study
on the electrification of roads to explore the various technical options and business
models, as well as how to overcome cross-border interoperability questions and gain
European level support (Die Bundesregierung & Government of Sweden, 2017).
12
Drayage applications around ports in the United States, particularly the ports of Los
Angeles and Long Beach, have become a focal point for innovative heavy-duty fuel
cell and catenary truck zero-emission demonstration projects. This is driven in large
part by the area being a hot spot for increased pollution and public health impacts,
resulting in heightened demand for greater emission reductions there. The duty
cycle, short distance traveled, and heavily traveled routes of drayage trucks around
ports makes them particularly suited for zero-emission technologies, as limited
infrastructure (either catenary wires or hydrogen fueling stations) is required to
supplied a large number of trucks. In addition, plug-in battery electric trucks have
made great strides in the medium-duty delivery sector, with companies—especially
those located across the United States and Europe—incorporating thousands of
delivery trucks into their fleets. In terms of companies, Siemens has been at the
forefront of heavy-duty catenary demonstration projects, partnering with various
companies, universities, and government agencies to carry out three projects in
California, Germany, and Sweden. Data collection and results from demonstration
projects are crucial in leading the way to commercialization of zero-emission vehicles
by helping to improve technology, drive down costs, familiarize truck owners and
operators with the new technology, and determine and demonstrate best suited
applications for the various technologies.
COMMERCIAL ZERO-EMISSION TRUCKS

Many vehicle manufacturers, both those long established in the industry and new
start-up companies, are developing zero emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles,
and some are already producing vehicles at low volume. Among the larger automotive
companies, Daimler has announced that it expects to begin production on a fully
electric heavy-duty truck in 2020 (Daimler, 2016a). Tesla has revealed that heavy-
duty trucks are in the early development phase with a reveal of a prototype electric
semi-tractor slated to occur in September 2017 (Musk, 2016). Toyota announced that
it is exploring hydrogen fuel cells for heavy-duty drayage truck applications through
a California-based feasibility study beginning in summer 2017 (Toyota, 2017). BYD
is currently producing Class 5, 6, and 8 electric trucks (BYD, 2016). Renault has also
released electric and fuel cell trucks (Renault Trucks, 2015). Among the start-ups that
have entered the zero-emission truck market are Nikola Motor Company (a U.S.-based
company developing a hydrogen fuel cell powered semi-truck), Charge (a U.K.-based
company developing electric trucks), and E-Force (a Switzerland-based company
producing fully electric Class 8 trucks). See the Annex for details on the various
commercial zero-emission commercial vehicles in development or production.
Among the key specifications for these companies is the available range of vehicle
and what vehicle segment the companies envision for these electric and fuel cell
vehicles. Figure 3 shows the range of commercial electric and hydrogen fuel cell
trucks that are under development, have been announced, or are being produced,
according to their respective truck classes. As shown in the figure, plug-in battery
electric vehicles encompass the majority of the commercial medium- and heavy-duty
trucks with ranges that are generally between 100 to 200 km. Fuel cell electric
vehicles allow for significantly higher range across all truck classes. The Nikola One
fuel cell announcement indicated a range of over 1,200 km for a Class 8 tractor-trailer
application (Nikola, 2016). Further details, including the manufacturer, technology,
range, current status, and detailed technology specifications, on these medium- and
heavy-duty zero-emission commercial vehicles can be found in the Annex.
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Medium-duty (Class 3-6) Heavy-duty (Class 7-8)

3 4 5 6 7 8
400
Nikola fuel cell
Battery electric In production (1290 -1930km)
Fuel cell In development
Plug-in electric fuel cell Production in 2017
300 Production in 2020
Vehicle range (km)
200
100
0
4.5-6.5 6.3-7.3 7.3-8.4 8.8-12 12-15 15+
Gross curb weight (metric tons)

Figure 3. Ranges of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks currently in development or
production broken down by truck class.
14
III. TECHNOLOGY COST ANALYSIS

To assess zero-emission vehicle technology costs, in this section we develop a cost-of-
ownership evaluation of the various vehicle technology alternatives and discuss broader
infrastructure costs.
VEHICLE COST OF OWNERSHIP

To gain an understanding of the viability of various zero-emission heavy-duty
technologies for long-haul heavy-duty tractor-trailer applications, we analyzed the
technologies under a vehicle-related cost of ownership framework. We base the analysis
on the research and available data on vehicle technology costs, efficiency, and emissions
from the projects outlined above. We report on results for 2015 through 2030 to show
our best estimates of the progression of the costs over time.
The objective of the cost analysis is to illustrate the cost differences of various tractor-
trailer technologies over different periods of time. The cost of ownership analysis
includes capital costs (tractor-trailer purchase price), maintenance costs, and fuel
costs experienced by the owner over the vehicle lifetime. The fuels and technologies
considered in the analysis are diesel, diesel hybrid, compressed natural gas, liquefied
natural gas, overhead catenary electric, dynamic induction electric, and hydrogen fuel
cell. Due to uncertainties related to potential battery-swapping systems, including how
many extra battery packs would be needed, we do not include an electric battery-
swapping scenario in the analysis. All costs in the analysis are in 2015 U.S. dollars.
The analysis is constrained to vehicle and fuel costs. Motor vehicle taxes, insurance
costs, driver wages, tolls, and road fees are excluded. The analysis is for vehicle costs;
infrastructure costs are discussed further below. We make a series of assumptions on
average annual vehicle use, efficiency technology, cost, and fuel cost to develop bottom-
up cost models for the various tractor-trailer technologies.
Vehicle use. We analyze the costs for tractor-trailers over 10 years of long-haul freight
activity. The more uncertain and varied use of the vehicle after its more intensive long-
haul use (perhaps repurposed for less-mileage-intensive applications) in regional or
drayage operation is excluded from the analysis, although of course there would still be
fuel-saving benefits in that later stage. The vehicle miles traveled with vehicle age over
the 10-year period are based on the U.S. EPA’s regulatory analysis (U.S. EPA and DOT,
2011), with China and Europe adjusted downward to account for 27% and 40% lower
average annual driving distances, respectively. For consistency, the alternative vehicle
technologies are assumed to have comparable functionality and reliability as diesel
powertrains. The catenary and dynamic inductive grid-operated trucks are assumed
to run on 100% electricity and are capable of traveling approximately 80 km powered
by the onboard battery pack, assuming an 80% depth of discharge (den Boer et al.,
2013). The baseline tractor-trailer is assumed to have three trailers per common industry
practice to account for there being three long-haul trailers, on average, in operation for
every tractor (Meszler, Lutsey, & Delgado, 2015). The average annual distance traveled
for each region over the lifetime of the vehicle along with additional data sources and
assumptions are provided in the Annex.
Efficiency. The average tractor-trailer fuel consumption for China, Europe, and U.S.
diesel tractor-trailers are taken from various regulatory and research studies. The 2015
fuel economy is assumed to be 5.4 mpg (44 L/100km) in China, 6.9 mpg (34 L/100km)
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in Europe, and 5.9 mpg (40 L/100km) in the U.S. (based on Delgado, 2016; Muncrief &
Sharpe, 2015). The fuel efficiency for the new U.S. tractor-trailers is assumed to improve,
following the Phase 2 U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency standards,
which result in a 2027 fuel economy of 9.1 mpg (26 L/100km) (Sharpe et al., 2016).
Europe tractor-trailer fuel efficiency is based on the 2015 real-world testing of tractor-
trailers of 6.9 mpg (34 L/100km) (Muncrief & Sharpe, 2015). When considering improved
technology in Europe from 2021 on, we assume a 2.5% per year annual fuel consumption
reduction. This is based on the average between incremental and moderate
improvements analyzed in Delgado et al. (2016) and assumes that CO2-reduction
standards will be implemented in Europe. For China, the fuel efficiency is assumed to
follow the Stage 3 China fuel consumption standards, achieving 6.3 mpg (37 L/100km)
in 2020 (Delgado, 2016). After 2020, the China tractor-trailer fuel consumption is
assumed to improve by 2.5% annually, similar to Europe, assuming new standards will be
implemented there.
For diesel hybrid tractor-trailers, we assume a reduction in fuel consumption of 5% in the

U.S. and China and 7% in Europe relative to the conventional diesel average (Rodriguez,
Muncrief, Delgado, & Baldino, 2017). Natural gas engines are assumed to follow the
same fuel efficiency improvements as diesel engines at a 10% and 15% efficiency loss
for compression ignition (CI) and spark ignition (SI) engines, respectively (Delgado
& Muncrief, 2015; Kasten et al., 2016). The energy consumption for fuel cell, catenary
electric, and dynamic induction electric tractor-trailers are taken to be 9.5 megajoule per
kilometer (MJ/km), 5.7 MJ/km, and 9.0 MJ/km, based on a variety of sources, and are
assumed improve by 1% annually for catenary electric and 2% for fuel cell and dynamic
induction electric (based on Akerman, 2016; den Boer, 2013; Kasten et al., 2016; Schmied,
Wüthrich, Zah, Althaus, & Friedl, 2015. The energy consumption assumptions for these
vehicle technologies are provided in the Annex.
Technology cost. The base diesel tractor-trailer in the U.S. is assumed to cost $210,000,
including a tractor at $135,000 with three trailers at $25,000 each (Meszler et al., 2015).
The comparable base tractor-trailer cost for Europe is estimated to be approximately the
same, before future efficiency technology is considered. Based on data on comparable
tractor and trailer costs, the heavy-duty tractor-trailer is approximated at $90,000 for
China. Battery and fuel cell system costs vary widely in the literature, depending on
innovation, supplier competition, and economies of scale that are underway largely as
a result of light-duty vehicle developments. We base our electric-drive vehicle costs
on Slowik et al. (2016) and Wolfram & Lutsey (2016). Slowik et al. (2016) summarized a
range of lithium ion battery pack costs from 2015 to 2023 for medium- and high-volume
scenarios, and found costs ranging from approximately $230/kWh to $420/kWh in 2015
and $150/kWh to $225/kWh in 2023. The battery costs applied here are within that
study’s medium- and high-volume projections. The expected reduction in lithium-ion
battery costs is attributed to the replacement of high-cost materials, economies of scale,
improvements to battery design and production methods, manufacturing improvements,
and competition among suppliers.
Table 6 shows our key component cost assumptions for 2015–2030. We apply estimates
from Wolfram & Lutsey (2016) to estimate fuel cell system costs. Based on annual
production of 1,000, fuel cell system costs are estimated at $240 per kilowatt (kW) in
2015; with increasing production to 10,000 in 2025, the cost drops to $89/kW, then
to production of 50,000 in 2030 to $59/kW. Both battery pack and fuel cell systems
are assumed to use similar technology in heavy-duty applications as in light-duty, and
16
therefore these component prices are assumed to follow price projections for light-
duty vehicles. This allows greater economies of scale in heavy-duty applications. The
assumption is in line with Tesla’s statement that the upcoming Tesla Semi will share
parts with its electric car production and Toyota’s announcement that its Class 8 fuel cell
tractor will use its Mirai passenger car fuel cell stacks (Lambert, 2017; Toyota, 2017). Cost
of the additional required fuel cell and battery electric systems are the electric systems
(power electronics, battery management systems, etc.) necessary to control the power
transfer. These additional costs are anticipated to decrease over time as the technology
increases in volume and continues to improve.
Table 6. Estimated vehicle component costs for vehicles purchased in 2015–2030.
Component Costs 2015 2020 2025 2030

Battery ($/kWh) 326 228 168 120
Electric motor fixed cost ($) 120 94 85 75
Electric motor ($/kW) 22 18 16 14
Fuel cell system ($/kW) 240 166 89 59
Additional fuel cell systems ($/kW) 38 34 31 28
Overhead catenary vehicle grid connection ($) 71,700 49,600 21,200 21,200
Dynamic induction vehicle grid connection ($) 16,700 11,800 11,500 10,800
Additional electric vehicle systems ($/kW) 55 52 46 41
Based on den Boer et al., 2013; Slowik et al., 2016; Wolfram & Lutsey, 2016
Internal combustion engine costs are forecasted to increase over time as additional
improvements and new technologies will be required to meet tightening efficiency and
exhaust after-treatment regulations (den Boer et al., 2013). The baseline cost for internal
combustion engines is assumed, based a study done by CE Delft (2013), to be $118/kW.
The forecasted costs associated with engine improvements and vehicle efficiencies are
based on a study conducted by Meszler et al. (2015). That study estimated a wide range of
technology packages that are applicable for meeting global heavy-duty vehicle efficiency
standards; therefore, we apply technology costs from that study for the projected costs
of advanced efficiency technologies for heavy-duty vehicles to meet the expected
incremental efficiency improvements (as mentioned above) in the 2020–2030 timeframe.
Based on the above assumptions, Table 7 summarizes the tractor-trailer capital costs
for 2015–2030. The total tractor-trailer capital cost is amortized over 10 years at a 10%
interest rate. The analysis excludes analysis of the residual value of the tractor-trailer
because previous studies have found that the residual value is insignificant to the overall
outcome of the cost analysis (see Lee & Thomas, 2016). As shown, the total vehicle
costs for all alternative vehicles are more expensive than diesel vehicles initially. Over
time, the total costs for alternative vehicle types are forecasted to be less than diesel
as the costs of new technologies decrease greatly as a result of anticipated increases in
production. The alternative vehicles and their components benefit from economies of
scale, technology improvements, and production optimizations, greatly reducing their
overall costs. The total initial vehicle purchase cost, rounded to the nearest thousand, is
shown in Table 7, and the total breakdown of costs for the components of each vehicle is
shown in the Annex.
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Table 7. Total estimated tractor-trailer capital costs (in thousands of 2015 U.S. dollars).
2015 2020 2025 2030

Diesel 90 91 95 100
Hybrid electric 101 101 103 108
Liquefied natural gas (compression ignition) 118 116 115 116
Liquefied natural gas (spark ignition) 153 147 143 141
China Compressed natural gas (spark ignition) 113 110 108 109
Hydrogen fuel cell 256 196 164 150
Electric overhead catenary 220 178 138 131
Electric dynamic induction 251 140 128 121
Diesel 204 204 208 218
Compressed natural gas (spark ignition) 256 246 239 237
Europe
Diesel 210 220 223 250
United
Compressed natural gas (spark ignition) 259 256 255 255
States
Values rounded to nearest 1,000
Maintenance costs. Baseline maintenance and repair costs are based on those from
Argonne National Laboratory’s GREET model. The model assumes similar incremental
maintenance and repair costs across various vehicle types but considers the reduced
costs for hybrid and electric drive heavy-duty vehicles (Burnham, 2016). The costs are
provided on a per-kilometer basis and are assumed to remain constant for vehicles
produced in 2015 through 2030. The maintenance and repair costs are assumed to be
$0.12 per kilometer for diesel and natural gas tractor-trailers and $0.11 per kilometer for
diesel hybrid, electric powered, and fuel cell tractor-trailers. As tractor-trailers become
more efficient over time in the analysis, the maintenance costs become a higher
percentage of the total vehicle operating costs.
Fuel cost. We base our forecasted diesel fuel price on the International Energy Agency
(IEA) World Energy Outlook (WEO) 2015 and the natural gas prices from U.S. EIA (IEA,
2015; U.S. EIA, 2017a). The differences between fuel prices in China, Europe, and the
U.S. are assumed to be the same as their historical differences. The historical natural
gas prices are from the Eurostat database for Europe and from a study done by the
Oxford Institute for Energy Studies for China (Eurostat, 2017a; Li, 2015). Historical
18
diesel fuel prices are based on World Bank data (World Bank, 2017). The IEA WEO
projects crude oil prices from $50 per barrel in 2015, increasing to $128 per barrel
through 2040. Electricity price projections for the U.S. follow the U.S. EIA’s Annual
Energy Outlook 2017 transportation electricity price projections (U.S. EIA, 2017b), and
prices in China and Europe are based on Eurostat and Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory data (Eurostat, 2017b; LBNL, 2014). Our estimated hydrogen fuel price
decreases from $12 per kilogram in 2017 to $4 in 2030 for natural gas-based hydrogen
(based on Fulton & Miller, 2015). In addition, we assume the that the cost of hydrogen
drops to $5 per kilogram for hydrogen produced from renewable energy electrolysis
(Fulton & Miller, 2015). The future fuel costs are discounted using a 4% discount rate to
determine the net present value for each vehicle purchase.
Vehicle-related cost of ownership. Figure 4 shows the vehicle-related cost of

ownership for trucks in China, Europe, and the U.S. for long-haul heavy-duty tractor-
trailers for 2015 through 2030. The graphs show the breakdown of the tractor-trailer
capital cost, maintenance cost, and fuel cost over 10 years of operation. The cost
analysis excludes infrastructure cost for the dynamic inductive grid and overhead
catenary technologies, which are discussed further below. By analyzing the 10-year
operating cycle, we intend to cover at least the first phase of the tractor life while
it is in long-haul operation. With uncertainties about total electricity throughput,
charging–discharging cycles, and any degradation over time for catenary and in-road
charging electric tractors, we do not include battery replacements. The results are
summarized for the various vehicle technologies as compared to conventional diesel
(which increases in efficiency over time), diesel hybrid (which retains an efficiency
advantage over conventional diesel), and three natural gas technologies (liquefied
compression ignition, liquefied spark ignition, and compressed spark ignition). Two fuel
cell technology pathways are shown, first for natural gas-derived hydrogen and second
for renewable source-derived hydrogen.
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China Capital cost Maintenance cost Fuel cost

1,400
1,200
1,000
Cost (thousand $)
800
600
400
200
0
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
Diesel Diesel hybrid Natural gas Natural gas Natural gas Fuel cell Fuel cell Electric Electric
LNG-CI LNG-SI CNG-SI (natural gas) (renewable) (overhead) (dynamic
induction)
Europe
1,400
1,200
1,000
Cost (thousand $)
800
600
400
200
0
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
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2030
induction)
United States
1,400
1,200
1,000
Cost (thousand $)
800
600
400
200
0
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
induction)
Figure 4. Cost of ownership in China, Europe, and the United States for each long-haul heavy-duty
truck technology for a vehicle purchased in 2015–2030 broken down by capital cost, maintenance
cost, and fuel cost.
20
Figure 4 illustrates the results on the various technologies’ associated costs. The figure
shows how conventional diesel vehicle costs increase incrementally, but are relatively
consistent in future years, as compared to the alternative fuel technologies. Essentially
all the other technologies see reduced cost of ownership over time, primarily because
their capital technology costs decrease from 2015 through 2030. Natural gas, especially
the liquefied natural gas with compression ignition, consistently offers among the lowest
cost of ownership.
The zero-emission vehicle technologies show the greatest cost reductions from 2015 to
2030. Fuel cell technology shows the largest reduction in cost over time, due to both
the expected drops in fuel cell costs and hydrogen costs. Excluding infrastructure costs,
the two electric vehicle scenarios, induction and overhead catenary, ultimately arrive
at among the lowest total vehicle cost in the 2025–2030 timeframe, similar to natural
gas. Compared with diesel vehicles in 2030, overhead catenary results in 25%–30%
lower costs, in-road induction results in 15%–25% lower costs, and hydrogen fuel cells
result in 5%–30% lower costs to own, operate, and fuel. The reduced vehicle costs for
electric tractor-trailers result in upfront costs that are similar to conventional diesel
trailers in the 2025–2030 timeframe—aided, of course, by the distributed electric power,
which allows smaller battery packs than would otherwise be needed. The gap in costs
between conventional diesel and electric technology further widens across regions, as
diesel tractor-trailers become incrementally more advanced and as compliance with
future efficiency regulations becomes more expensive. Overall, when comparing the
costs across the three major regions, the technologies show similar relative technology
comparisons, although in absolute terms the costs are higher in the U.S., as a result of
the U.S. having the largest annual distance traveled per truck.
SUPPORTING INFRASTRUCTURE COSTS, VIABILITY, AND

IMPLEMENTATION
Beyond the cost of ownership, the cost, availability, and implementation of the required
infrastructure is also of great importance in determining the viability of zero-emission
technologies in the heavy-duty sector. The required infrastructure is particularly
important for the long-haul heavy-duty applications analyzed above, as these trucks
cover large distances and would need extensive charging (overhead catenary wires,
or in-road inductive or conductive charging) or natural gas or hydrogen refueling
infrastructure. On the other hand, the required infrastructure to support regional heavy-
duty, waste, and drayage trucks tends to be easier to implement and less costly as
these trucks tend to follow set routes, have greater downtime, and cover much shorter
distances. Required infrastructure for regional heavy-duty vehicles could be quite similar
to the charging and hydrogen infrastructure for battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell
buses, which have been implemented in some regions, especially in China (and also
increasingly in some cities in Europe and the U.S.).
Although there is considerable uncertainty, approximate first estimates are available

for the applicable charging infrastructure costs. Overhead catenary wires provide a
continuous supply of power to trucks, requiring an extensive and continuous network of
energy infrastructure along roadways. In addition to the catenary wires, infrastructure
to support the necessary supply of electricity (substations, connection to the grid,
transformer, and rectifiers) need to be added to motorways (den Boer et al., 2013).
Catenary wires are estimated to cost between $0.8 million and $3.8 million per
kilometer, with annual operation and maintenance costs of 1%–2.5% of the initial capital
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cost of the catenary and energy infrastructure (based on den Boer et al., 2013; Gladstein,
Neandross & Associates, 2012; Siemens, 2016b). Once completed in various regions,
these electric charging systems would enable high utilization, which would allow for the
overall system costs to be spread over many heavy-duty vehicles over time.
Similar to catenary wires, dynamic grid inductive or conductive charging requires

expensive energy support infrastructure in addition to the necessary charging on top
of, or under, the roadway. The installation of underground infrastructure could be more
costly and invasive than overhead catenary wires, but it could have lower maintenance
requirements, because there is no wear and tear on the components. Dynamic grid
in-road infrastructure is estimated to cost between $2.5 million and $4 million per
kilometer, with annual operation and maintenance costs of 1% of the initial installation
cost of the charging infrastructure (Connolly, 2016; den Boer et al., 2013). These road
charging systems would enable high utilization.
Hydrogen fueling station cost estimates have ranged from $350,000 to $5.3 million
(Wolfram & Lutsey, 2016). Hydrogen refueling times are comparable to conventional
diesel and gasoline vehicles. Quick refueling times allow for the possibility of high
utilization of fueling stations and therefore distributes the investment costs over the
use of many vehicles. Estimating the cost of hydrogen fueling stations on a per-vehicle
basis is difficult because it is dependent upon the station’s utilization and hydrogen
throughput, which are uncertain. In the hydrogen case, how quickly the shift toward
high station utilization happens could be partially dependent upon whether both
passenger and heavy-duty freight vehicle approaches grow and co-evolve. Other key
considerations with hydrogen cost implications are the exact production, transport,
and distribution system (e.g., compressed or liquefied hydrogen, pipeline or truck
distribution) involved with supplying the fuel to stations.
To help inform on infrastructure and system-level costs, we summarize results from

a directly applicable study by the Öko Institut. Kasten et al. (2016) conducted a
comprehensive study comparing the cost of energy supply, energy supply infrastructure
(investment, maintenance and operation, and connection costs for gas stations or
charging infrastructure), and vehicle purchase cost for alternative vehicle technologies
to conventional fossil fuel–powered vehicles. The study compared four alternative
scenarios to decarbonize and reduce air pollution from the German fleet of trucks
in the long-haul freight sector. These scenarios were (a) internal combustion, with
power-to-liquid fuels with very low lifecycle carbon emissions; (b) overhead catenary
line electricity for hybrid diesel-electric powertrain; (c) liquefied natural gas from low-
carbon power-to-gas methane; and (d) fuel cell with liquefied power-to-gas hydrogen.
The study estimated the additional cost for each of the scenarios from 2010 to 2050
compared to the reference case, where the whole long-haul heavy-duty fleet would
otherwise be powered by conventional diesel fuel.
The results from Kasten et al. (2016) on the energy supply, infrastructure, and vehicle
costs for long-haul freight road transport are shown in Figure 5. As shown, the costs
range from $100 billion to $400 billion dollars from 2010 to 2050, so any of these
approaches would amount to a major transportation overhaul to help decarbonize the
freight sector. Because the scenarios were set to have comparable emission-reduction
benefits, the scenario with the lowest total cost (i.e., overhead catenary electric system)
provides the most cost-effective long-term greenhouse gas reduction. The analysis does
not consider the relative practical feasibility of implementing the different alternative
22
technologies. The figure shows that even though the overhead electric option is
infrastructure intensive, it compares very favorably against the options to use renewable
power to develop liquid combustion diesel replacements, natural gas, and hydrogen—
each of which has significant energy supply, infrastructure, and vehicle costs.
Combustion (power-to-liquid) Electric (overhead)

LNG (power-to-gas methane) Fuel cell (power-to-gas hydrogen)
400
Additional cost compared to reference
300
(billion 2015$)
200
100
0
Energy supply Energy infrastructure Vehicle purchase Total cost
Figure 5. Additional cost for four different greenhouse gas reduction scenarios compared to the
reference case (all fossil fuel use) for the long-haul heavy-duty freight transport sector in Germany
(based on Kasten et al., 2016).
For further information on the Kasten et al. (2016) study summarized in the figure, the
trucks powered by the overhead catenary system are assumed to be hybrids, powered
by electric energy 75% of the time through the catenary wires or the small on-board
battery and the remaining 25% of the time by an internal combustion engine powered by
power-to-liquid fuel. For this case, it is assumed that 4,000 km (approximately 30%) of
the German federal motorways are electrified. The market introduction of the overhead
catenary trucks is assumed to begin in 2025 and ramp up to 90% of new registrations
by 2050. For the power-to-gas natural gas scenario, trucks will enter the market in 2015
and reach full penetration by 2035. In the power-to-gas hydrogen case, fuel cell trucks
would be introduced to the market in 2020 and reach full penetration by 2035. In the
combustion scenario, the trucks would be fully powered by low-carbon power-to-liquid
fuels by 2050.
Although road electrification has high upfront costs from the required energy
infrastructure, these costs are dwarfed in the long term by cheaper energy supply
costs compared to alternative liquid fuels. The study indicates that the cost of energy
infrastructure is relatively small compared to the high cost of energy supply and
vehicle costs over the long-term, leading to the result that electrification is the most
cost-effective technology for freight transport in the long-term. A similar effect can be
seen for the power-to-gas hydrogen case, for which the costs of the market introduction
of fuel cell heavy-duty trucks drives the high costs of vehicle purchase. In this case,
the cheap energy supply costs and the low system costs (both compared to the
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power-to-liquid and the power-to-methane option) would become effective after the
transformation process and in a longer timeframe than 2050.
Although it is the most cost-effective option, road electrification would require sustained
political support to offset the upfront cost and the initially unprofitable operation of
charging infrastructure. It would also need public support, high fleet participation and
utilization, and international coordination. All scenarios require broad support but could
be implemented, to some degree, in a modular and incremental way, focusing on one
region, with one or several fuel production facilities and refueling stations and several
nearby routes at a time.
24
IV. ANALYSIS OF EMISSIONS IMPACTS

VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
To gain an understanding of the emissions impacts of the various tractor-trailer
technologies, we analyze the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for each technology
for a truck purchased in 2015 through 2030. In addition to the assumptions used above
in the cost ownership analysis, we include the upstream fuel cycle emission impacts
associated with the production of the various fuel. We apply the carbon intensities of
diesel, natural gas, and hydrogen for 2015 from California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard
(LCFS) across all regions.
Table 8 shows the assumed fuel carbon intensities that we apply to our lifecycle analysis.
Carbon intensities for diesel and natural gas are assumed to remain constant from
2015 through 2030, whereas the carbon intensity of hydrogen is expected to decrease
significantly as hydrogen transitions from being produced mainly from fossil fuels
through steam-methane reformation to being produced from renewable energy sources.
For hydrogen’s carbon intensity, we assume a 5% annual reduction based on continued
policy to ensure that fuel supply was low carbon. The carbon intensity of electricity
is based on the IEA WEO 2015 electricity assumptions for each of the respective
regions and similarly assumes sustained efforts to decarbonize (i.e., their 2°C climate
stabilization scenario). We note that there are many regions (e.g., Norway and Québec)
where the electricity carbon intensity is already near zero, as a result of electricity
generation predominantly coming from renewable energy sources. In such cases, electric
vehicle applications offer over a 95% reduction in carbon emissions.
Table 8. Fuel carbon intensities (gCO2e/MJ) for 2015 and 2030 and the percent reduction in
emissions from 2015 to 2030.
Fuel carbon intensity

(gCO2e/MJ)
Greenhouse gas emission
Fuel Region 2015 2030 reduction in 2030*
Diesel All 102 102 -
Compressed natural gas All 81 81 -
Liquefied natural gas All 86 86 -
Hydrogen All 151 70 54%
United States 144 49 66%
Electricity Europe 101 44 57%
China 202 82 60%
*Greenhouse gas emission reduction includes on-vehicle efficiency improvement (i.e., relative MJ per kilometer)
The total lifecycle wheel-to-well greenhouse gas emissions in carbon dioxide equivalents
(CO2e) for each long-haul heavy-duty freight truck technology for tractor-trailers
purchased in 2015 through 2030 are shown in Figure 6. The three panes represent the
unique assumptions and characteristics (e.g., vehicle efficiency, annual vehicle travel
activity over vehicle life) for the trucks purchased and operated in China, Europe, and
the U.S.
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China
1,500
2,000
Lifecycle emissions (tons CO2e)
per kilometer (gCO2e/km)

Lifecycle emissions
1,500
1,000
1,000
500
500
0 0
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
Diesel Diesel hybrid Natural gas Natural gas Natural gas Fuel cell Electric Electric
LNG-SI LNG-CI CNG-SI (Hydrogen) (overhead) (dynamic
induction)
Europe 1,500
2,000

1,500
Lifecycle emissions
1,000
1,000
500
500
0 0
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
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2020
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2015
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2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
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2030
induction)
United States
1,500
2,000
1,500
Lifecycle emissions
1,000
1,000
500
500
0 0
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
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2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
2015
2020
2025
2030
induction)
Figure 6. China, Europe, and U.S. lifecycle CO2 emissions over vehicle lifetime (left axis) and per
kilometer (right axis) by vehicle technology type.
26
Major emission differences across the technologies and over time are apparent from the
figure. For 2015, catenary electric vehicles have 35%, 58%, and 48% lower lifetime CO2e
emissions than conventional diesel vehicles in China, Europe, and the U.S., respectively,
while fuel cell vehicles have 19%, 5%, and 10% lower emissions. We note that in the case
of China, dynamic induction electric vehicles have comparable CO2e emissions to diesel
in 2015 as a result of high grid emissions and reduced efficiency of dynamic grid electric
vehicle in comparison to catenary electric, but the emissions significantly decrease over
time as the grid decarbonizes. The diesel and natural gas technologies are relatively
similar in their CO2 emission levels. As shown in Figure 6, there is the potential for major
reductions in all the vehicle technology types in the 2025–2030 timeframe. In the case of
the diesel and natural gas technologies, the emission reductions are driven by efficiency
technology on the vehicle. On the electric and fuel cell technologies, the emission
reductions are driven primarily by the reduced fuel carbon intensity. The diesel tractor-
trailer is shown with greatly reduced carbon intensity, with a 22%–35% reduction from
2015 to 2030. The fuel cell technology results in a 73% reduction in carbon emissions from
2015 to 2030. The catenary and dynamic induction electric vehicle technology show a
reduction of 66%–76% and 61%–77%, respectively, by 2030 across the three regions.
Overhead catenary electric heavy-duty trucks have the lowest lifetime emissions in
each region. In China, catenary electric trucks deliver a 72% reduction from the 2030
high-efficiency diesel emission level (an 82% reduction from the 2015 diesel baseline). In
Europe, the catenary electric truck provides an 81% reduction in emissions as compared
with the high-efficiency 2030 diesel truck (an 87% reduction from the 2015 baseline).
In the U.S., catenary electric trucks deliver an 80% reduction over the high-efficiency
2030 diesel (an 88% reduction from the 2015 baseline). The emission benefits from the
hydrogen fuel cell technology cases were also very substantial: The CO2 reductions were
62%–67% as compared with the 2030 high-efficiency diesel (73%–78% reduction from
the 2015 baseline diesel).
FLEET LEVEL IMPACTS OF ZERO-EMISSION TRUCK PENETRATION

To further inform the question about how zero-emission trucks could contribute toward
climate change goals, we conducted a narrower analysis of the penetration of zero-
emission trucks in one particular market—Europe. As indicated earlier, many of the details
of the above vehicle cost analysis are uncertain, and the analysis is driven by a series of
assumptions without firm real-world data. Beyond questions about the cost and necessary
infrastructure and energy supply deployment, the future penetration of the technologies is
even more uncertain because it is dependent on many industry, government, and market
factors. Yet, we provide an illustrative, first-order analysis of fleet emissions to assess the
potential impact of greater deployment electric-drive heavy-duty vehicle technologies if the
prevailing technology and institutional barriers are overcome.
The broader context for long-term climate scenarios is the Paris climate agreement, signed
by nearly every nation, which establishes the goal of limiting the increase in global average
temperatures to below 2°C above the pre-industrial temperature. The leaders of the
European Union adopted the 2030 climate and energy framework in 2014. The framework
sets a binding target for the EU to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40%
below 1990 levels in 2030 and reduce emissions from transportation by 30% relative to
2005 levels by 2030 (European Commission, 2017a). The European Commission created the
Energy Roadmap 2050 to explore the options of transitioning the energy system to meet
the long-term goals of cutting emissions 80%–95% from 1990 levels by 2050 in the most
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competitive manner while achieving maximum energy security (European Commission,

2017a, 2017b). The transport sector is required to reduce emissions at least 60% below 1990
levels by 2050 while allowing for increased mobility and a competitive transport sector
(European Commission, 2011a, 2011b).
We analyze the impact of the penetration of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicle technologies

in the European fleet from 2015 to 2050 to estimate the CO2 emission impact. Our analysis
is focused on the tractor-trailer portion of the heavy-duty fleet. The analysis applies the
International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) Roadmap vehicle stock-turnover
model (see ICCT, 2017). This model simulates advanced technologies being phased into
the fleet beginning in 2020 as new vehicles increasingly take over larger fractions of freight
activity through 2050, whereas older vehicles’ activity decreases over time until they
are eventually retired from the fleet. The vehicle stock-turnover model provides greater
perspective on how quickly the climate benefits accrue from transitioning to zero-emission
technologies over time.
Figure 7 shows four scenarios for lifecycle CO2 emissions of tractor-trailers in Europe,
reflecting varying technology penetrating the new vehicle fleet from 2020 through 2050.
The first scenario is the base case, which assumes the entire European tractor-trailer fleet
remains completely composed of internal combustion engine vehicles powered by diesel
fuel without adopting additional efficiency standards that promote greater efficiency.
The second scenario assumes that efficiency standards are implemented, leading to
advanced diesel efficiency improvements based on the best available technology. We
include two zero-emission vehicle scenarios, with each reflecting the possibility that one
technology becomes the leading technology over time, while the other remains in more
niche applications in the fleet. The two zero-emission vehicle scenarios build upon the
diesel efficiency improvements (i.e., all the scenarios other than the base case include the
diesel improvements). The fuel cell–intensive scenario has initial fuel cell tractor-trailer sales
starting in 2020 and ramping up to reach 50% of the sales share in 2050, and overhead
catenary electric tractor-trailer sales starting in 2020 and reaching 15% of the sales share in
2050. The final electric-intensive scenario has electric sales starting in 2020 and ramping up
to 50% of the sales share in 2050, and fuel cells starting in 2020 and reaching 15% in 2050.
400
Lifecycle emissions (million metric tons CO2e)
300
200
100
Base case Fuel cell-intensive

Electric-intensive Efficiency improvements
0
2005 2015 2025 2035 2045
Figure 7. Lifecycle CO2e emissions from Europe heavy-duty tractor-trailer fleet from 2015–2050,
with base case, efficiency improvements, fuel cell-intensive, and electric-intensive scenarios.
28
Table 9 summarizes several key greenhouse gas emission results from the vehicle
deployment scenarios shown in Figure 7. Under the base case, the lifecycle emissions
are estimated to increase approximately 38% from 2015 to 2050, from 281 to 386 million
metric tons of CO2e. With incremental diesel efficiency technology improvements linked
to efficiency standards (but without any zero emission vehicles) in the fleet from 2015
to 2050, CO2 emissions in the 2050 fleet would decrease by 156 million tons—a 40%
reduction from the base case in 2050. As shown in the efficiency scenario, CO2 emissions
begin to flatline after 2035, as the incremental efficiency gains slow and freight activity
continues to increase. For the fuel cell–intensive scenario, emissions are estimated to
peak around 2025 at 300 million metric tons of CO2e and proceed to decrease through
2050, resulting in a 63% reduction in emissions relative to the base case in 2050. Finally,
for the electric-intensive scenario, emissions are expected to peak around 2025 at 300
million metric tons of CO2e and proceed to decrease through 2050, resulting in a 70%
reduction in emissions relative to the base case in 2050.
Table 9. GHG emissions from EU tractor-trailers for baseline, fuel cell vehicle–intensive, and electric
vehicle–intensive scenarios for 2050, with associated change in emissions
Emissions by year
(million ton CO2e) Change in emissions
2015 to From 2050
Scenario 2005 2015 2050 2050 base case
Base case 275 280 386
Increased efficiency 275 280 230 –18% –40%
Fuel cell intensive 275 280 145 –48% –63%
Electric intensive 275 280 115 –59% –70%
Both scenarios with substantial penetration of zero-emission vehicle technologies show

substantial reduction in emissions relative to the base scenario and their overall CO2
emissions in absolute terms. The fuel cell–intensive case results in 47% lower emissions
in 2050 than in 2005. The electric-intensive case would cut emissions by 58%. Therefore,
these scenarios underscore the great challenge at hand to decarbonize heavy-duty
freight emissions. Advanced diesel efficiency technology and greatly accelerated
penetration of zero emission vehicles will be required to achieve the 30% CO2 emission
reduction from the heavy-duty vehicle sector in 2030 and 60% reduction by 2050
relative to 2005 levels, as targeted by the European Commission.
Several recent analyses also help to estimate the potential and the implications for
greater penetration of advanced heavy-duty vehicle electric drive technologies. A
European Union analysis indicates that nearly 40% of highways could be electrified
with overhead electric lines, up to 90% of new long-haul tractor-trailers could be
electric, and up to 34% of heavy-goods vehicle activity could be powered by electric
vehicles by 2050 (Ministry of the Environment, Energy, and Sea, 2016; Transport &
Environment, 2016). A Germany-focused study on the increasing role of transport
electrification includes a scenario for up to 80% tractor-trailer activity being powered by
overhead catenary systems by 2050 (Renewbility, 2016). The IEA assesses technologies
and freight-system improvements to decarbonize freight trucks and illustrates the
importance of electrification to achieve deep carbon cuts (IEA, 2017). Essentially all of
these studies agree with our findings that developing electric-drive pathways is key to
being able to substantially decarbonize heavy-duty vehicles.
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V. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

Decarbonizing heavy-duty vehicle activity by transitioning to zero-emission vehicle
technologies, including electricity and hydrogen technologies, presents an immense
challenge. Yet, there are many promising technologies that have been demonstrated and
announced that prove the technical viability and suggest how these technologies could
eventually be deployed on a large scale. Mass deployment of zero-emission vehicles can
enable greater impact on reducing emissions and energy use, while helping to enable
more renewable energy use. The ongoing zero-emission truck projects around the world
in 2017 inform the vision forward on where the sector can go if motivated governments
and companies act to deploy the technology beginning in 2020.
Table 10 summarizes our findings regarding the potential benefits, prevailing barriers to
widespread adoption, and the relatively promising market segments for various zero-
emission technologies for heavy-duty freight vehicles. The table summarizes findings for
the three main technology areas that were analyzed: plug-in battery electric, dynamic
electric charging (catenary or in-road), and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Each technology
offers the prospect of lower climate emissions, no tailpipe pollutant emissions, lower
fueling cost, greater renewable energy use, and higher on-vehicle energy efficiency.
Table 10. Summary of promising segments, benefits, and barriers for zero-emission heavy-duty freight vehicle technologies
Promising segments
Prevailing barriers to for widespread
Technology Benefits widespread viability commercialization
• Reduce greenhouse gas
emissions • Limited electric range
• Light commercial urban
• Eliminate local air pollution • Vehicle cost (battery) delivery vans
Electric (plug-in) • Reduce fueling costs • Charging time (unless • Medium-duty regional
battery swapping is delivery trucks
• Reduce maintenance costs
utilized)
• Increase energy efficiency • Refuse trucks
• Cargo weight and size
emissions • Infrastructure cost
• Medium-duty trucks
• Eliminate local air pollution • Standardization across
and heavy-duty
regions
Electric • Reduce fueling costs tractor-trailers on
(catenary or in-road • Complete infrastructure medium-distance routes
• Reduce maintenance costs network before vehicle with high freight use
charging)
• Increase energy efficiency deployment
• Increase renewable energy use • Visual obstruction ports
(catenary)
• Enable regional travel
emissions • Heavy-duty tractor-
• Refueling infrastructure
• Eliminate local air pollution cost trailers in long-haul
Hydrogen fuel cell operation
• Increase energy efficiency • Renewable hydrogen cost
• Enable quick refueling time • Vehicle costs (fuel cell) ports
The zero-emission vehicle technologies do present considerable challenges. They have

a combination of near- and long-term barriers, issues, and questions that will have to be
addressed before they can become widespread replacements for conventional trucks
30
and tractor-trailers that are typically diesel fueled. These challenges are somewhat
different for the three different zero-emission vehicle technologies. As a result, the three
technologies have different truck segments for which they offer the most promise for
widespread commercialization, based on our assessment in 2017. We emphasize the
high uncertainty in how these technologies could evolve over the long-term for 2030
and beyond. With sustained government and private industry investment, each of these
various electric-drive technologies has the potential to overcome the various barriers
faster than the others. Considering the vast scale of the problem of decarbonizing
freight transport, it appears likely that many of the battery and fuel cell technologies will
need to grow in parallel to meet medium- and long-distance freight demands as soon as
they prove themselves.
The key barriers for plug-in battery electric vehicles include meeting the various
freight vehicle specifications for daily travel range, initial vehicle cost, charging time,
and maintaining vehicle cargo weight and volume capacity. The applications of light
commercial urban vans, medium-duty regional vans, and other local vocational trucks
(e.g., refuse trucks) offer higher potential for battery electric vehicles because they
are more likely to have local usage and fleet operations that downplay or minimize the
near-term technology limitations. Battery-swapping technology, although now only used
in a couple isolated applications, has the potential to largely eliminate the charging time
issue; however, it was not analyzed here due to lack of available information. Vehicles
in urban delivery operation that offer a shorter radius from their base location, lower
daily distances, less volume and mass constraints for cargo, and recharge in just one
or two locations are suited for plug-in electric trucks. Many such vehicles are in local
city government operations, short-distance urban cargo delivery, electric power utility
service vehicles, and other applications in every major city. Several major automakers
are adapting their electric car technology for light-commercial vans. The Deutsche Post
StreetScooter is a recent example of the commercialization of electric truck technology
for urban settings. Tesla’s announced battery electric semi-tractor prototype is the only
battery electric project we found in our assessment targeting long-haul heavy-duty
applications without dynamic charging.
Electric vehicles that are dynamically charged—via overhead catenary transmission,

on-road conductive tracks, or in-road inductive wireless charging—could play an
important role in unlocking more potential advantages and market options for electric
trucks. Dynamically charged trucks on dedicated e-roads could be implemented on a
regional basis in a way that greatly reduces the battery electric truck barriers of battery
cost, weight, size, and range. However, the dynamic electric truck charging systems have
high infrastructure costs, for which only very early cost estimates are available. They also
present an issue of needing some standardization of truck technology and infrastructure
systems across regions (e.g., multiple countries in Europe) to be able to span long
distance routes. Based on these technologies’ relative advantages and barriers,
promising applications include medium-duty trucks and heavy-duty tractor-trailers on
short- and medium-distance routes with high freight use. This approach would require
major infrastructure investments and could be rolled out initially on high-freight-traffic
corridors, for examples for drayage trucks around shipping ports with key distribution
to cities within several hundred miles. Examples of this technology already exist.
Trolleybuses powered by overhead catenary wires are deployed in hundreds of cities
worldwide, and prominent research projects in Germany and Sweden are demonstrating
the technology for freight applications.
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Hydrogen fuel cell heavy-duty vehicles could play a key role for low-carbon freight
transport in several applications. As noted by the limitations above, an especially
important opportunity for fuel cells is in applications for which plug-in and dynamic
charging is difficult practically or from a cost perspective. Hydrogen fuel cell technology
offers much faster refueling times compared with electric charging times, and this is of
great importance to many truck fleets that cannot accommodate additional downtime
within their freight activity patterns. The technology also offers the potential for much
greater range from hydrogen than battery electric trucks with similar specifications.
Especially strong potential is in urban fleets, where governments have prioritized
hydrogen infrastructure deployment, and for long-haul tractor-trailer fleets with routes
around and between those cities. A key challenge for fuel cells is in their fuel supply,
specifically moving toward renewable hydrogen fuel supply, which is simultaneously
lower carbon and lower cost. Perhaps the most prominent such projects in 2017 are the
in-development Nikola and Toyota fuel cell hydrogen tractor-trailer demonstrations.
Based on the research analytical results and qualitative assessment of projects around
the world, we close with several summary conclusions regarding emerging zero-emission
technologies for heavy-duty vehicles.
First, we find that electric-drive technologies for heavy-duty vehicles will be essential
to decarbonize the transport sector. Heavy-duty freight trucks are disproportionate
contributors to pollution, with less than one tenth of all vehicles but roughly 40% of
their carbon emissions, and their activity keeps growing. Electric-drive technologies,
similar to those being commercialized in passenger cars, will be essential to decarbonize
the heavy-duty sector and help meet climate stabilization goals. While the more
efficient diesel technologies can reduce carbon emissions by about 40%, electric-drive
technologies powered by renewable sources can achieve over an 80% reduction in
lifecycle emissions. These technologies can be phased into the fleet through 2050.
However, our analysis indicates that these technologies will be insufficient to achieve
decarbonization of heavy-duty vehicles by 2050. This is largely a result of how long
it takes the fleet to turn over as high-emission trucks are slowly retired over time.
Decarbonization will also likely require broader freight sector strategies, including modal
shift, logistics improvements, and demand management approaches.
Second, even though these electric-drive heavy-duty truck technologies are in their
relative infancy in 2017, by 2030 these technologies are likely to offer cost-effective
opportunities for deep emission reductions. Major projects involving heavy-duty
electric and hydrogen fuel cell technologies show great potential as a result of their
much greater efficiency and available low-carbon fuel sources. Compared with
diesel heavy-duty vehicles in the approximate 2030 timeframe, when infrastructure
costs are excluded, we find that overhead catenary results in 25%–30% lower costs,
in-road induction results in 15%–25% lower costs, and hydrogen fuel cells result in
5%–30% lower costs to own, operate, and fuel. Key drivers for cost-effectiveness are
battery pack costs dropping to below $150 per kilowatt-hour and hydrogen fuel costs
dropping to below the per-energy-unit cost of diesel (i.e., below $4 per kilogram), as
well as the deployment of supporting infrastructure. Beyond these cost-effectiveness
considerations, any low-emission technology will have to prove that it meets the same
utility, reliability, and safety demands as conventional combustion technologies.
Third, we find that different electric-drive technologies are suitable for different heavy-
duty vehicle segments, but simultaneous massive infrastructure investments will be
32
needed for each of them. Advances in battery packs and other electrical components
will enable shorter distance urban commercial vans to become plug-in electric, similar
to passenger cars. By eliminating battery weight and volume constraints, overhead
catenary or dynamic inductive grid technologies can enable electric zero-emission goods
transport on and around heavily traveled freight corridors. Hydrogen fuel cell technology
might be especially key for longer distance duty cycles. Both of these technologies will
require sustained investments by government and industry. Electric highways will require
extensive charging (at central stations, with overhead transmission, or inductive road
charging). Investments in low-carbon and low-cost hydrogen pathways and refueling
infrastructure will have to be made in parallel with vehicle technology advances.
Beyond this report’s scope, there is the larger question about how to strategically
develop a balanced freight system that includes the right mix of many technologies,
including battery electric and fuel cells, in a system that develops over time. Eventually,
in the 2020–2030 timeframe, governments and industry leaders will have to make more
discrete decisions about infrastructure to serve various technologies of particular vehicle
types (medium- and heavy-duty) and freight applications (medium- and long-distance).
As technology solutions emerge, questions about how best to sequence the rollout
of infrastructure in advance of vehicle deployment, and avoid technology lock-in or
stranded assets, will become more important. For the next 5 years, there is minimal such
risk, because the technologies analyzed here are all in research, exploratory, and early
demonstration phases. Analyzing the expanding and evolving infrastructure systems
from a longer term strategic perspective remains a rich area for future research. Studies
like this and others (see IEA [2017] and Transport & Environment [2016]) will continue to
help inform strategic policy development as technologies evolve.
Based on these conclusions, the challenge for decarbonizing freight transport is

becoming clear. To stabilize global temperatures, many developed countries have set the
goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. Efficiency
improvements will be of great importance but transitioning to zero-emission vehicles
and fuels will be required to achieve greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. To
achieve such a transition, a large variety of policy actions will be needed to increase
heavy-duty sector efficiency and advance the low-carbon fuel options. Government
policies, incentives, and investments will be needed to help offset the increased
technology costs until the costs are competitive with conventional vehicle technologies,
as well as to set clear expectations for industry investments.
For the near term, the continued and strengthened promotion for drayage, bus,
and urban delivery truck applications are important to identify the most appealing
business cases for electric-drive trucks. The lessons learned from the uptake of zero
emission vehicles in these heavy-duty applications and the resulting reduction in overall
technology costs will help to ease the transition in the more demanding long-haul
applications. While we are learning from these early projects, government-backed
investments in infrastructure give fleets and manufacturers the confidence to more
heavily invest in the development, production, and deployment of zero-emission heavy-
duty vehicle technologies. The case of California’s continued support for zero-emission
buses is instructive. The state and local bus agencies continued to feed both hydrogen
and electric buses with sustained infrastructure and incentives over the past decade, and
now electric buses are demonstrating success and the potential become self-sustaining.
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Governments have been acting in key ways to help spur this progress. Simultaneously
exploring the bigger, bolder, and infrastructure-intensive options like hydrogen
fuel cells and dynamic electric charging in major freight regions is necessary to
better understand the costs, benefits, and viability of these technology options for
widespread applications. Using available resources, for example from the Volkswagen
settlement mitigation funding, for such infrastructure or demonstration projects
would certainly be warranted. Key roles for governments are in setting a clear vision,
making initial investments in the key technologies, and encouraging further industry
development of the ultimate solutions (e.g., Brown, 2016). Because of the complexity
of the freight sector, it seems highly likely that a mix of many technologies, likely
including plug-in, charging systems, and fuel cells, will ultimately be needed for long-
term decarbonization.
34
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ANNEX
Table A1. Commercial medium-duty zero emission vehicles in development or production.
Technology Specifications
Hydrogen Storage kg)
Vehicle Gross Weight
Load Capacity (ton)

Max Speed (km/hr)
Power output (kW)

Battery Chemistry
Battery kWh (or

Recharge Time/
Torque (Nm)
Refuel Time
Range (km)
(ton)
Company Name Technology Current Status Source
Electric Class 5
BYD T5 Production 250 FePO4 97 1.5 h 550 150 145 7.3 3.8 BYD (2016b)
truck
Electric Class 6
BYD T7 Production 200 FePO4 90 1.75 h 550 150 175 11 5.9 BYD (2016c)
truck
All-electric Small-scale 7h
Daimler eCanter >100 Li-Ion 380 185 70 7.5 4.6 Daimler (2016c)
light-duty truck production (1 h = 80%)
Daimler Canter All-electric Replaced by

>100 Li-Ion 90 7 h (1 h) 650 110 48.5 6 3 FUSO (2014)
Trucks E-CELL light-duty truck the eCanter
Deutsche Post StreetScooter Battery electric Deutsche Post

Production 50–80 Li-ion 120 48 20.4 2.1
DHL Group Work delivery truck DHL Group (2016)
Electric
EFA-S P80-E medium-duty Production 80–130 LI-FeYPO4 80 8–10 h 300 91 62 7.5 3.5 EFA-S (2010)
delivery truck
EMOSS DYNA EV200 Battery electric Production 160 LI-FeYPO4 85 8h 700 120 62 7.5 4.6 EMOSS (2016)
Battery electric
EVI EVI-MD medium-duty Production 145 LiFeMgPO4 105 6–12 h 900 200 99 7.3–10 GreenFleet (2016)
truck
Electric Daily Battery electric ZEBRA Deutsche Post
Iveco Production 90–130 70 300 80 63.6 5 2
5t delivery truck (NaNi/Cl2) DHL Group (2013)
Motiv Power 8h
Electric delivery
Systems & Production 109–161 97 (2–3 h 1,200 150 85/106/127 6.6 3.6 Motiv (2016a)
truck
Rockport 50%)
Electric
ORTEN & ORTEN E 4h
medium-duty Production 100 LiFePO4 80 1,150 90 72.5 7.5 3.6 ORTEN (2016)
EFA-S 75 AT (22 kW)
truck
Electric delivery
Paneltex Production 200 LiFePO4 80–120 7.5–11 Paneltex (2017)
truck
Electric with
hydrogen- 47/ Renault Trucks
Renault Maxity Field test 2015 200 90 270 42/ 45 3.5 1
powered fuel 20 (2015)
cell
Battery electric Production 6–8 h
Smith Edison 90–160 Li-ion 80 90 40 3.5–4.6 1.2–2.1 Smith (2011a)
(chassis cab) (except U.S.) (4 h fast)
Battery electric Smith, (2011b,

Smith Newton Production 65–160 Li-ion 80 8h 600 120 40–120 6.4–12 2.8-7.6
(chassis cab) 2011c)
Ecotruck Electric
Spijkstaal 70–100 Li-ion 40 6–8 h 20 7.5 3.7 Spijkstaal (2016)
7500 garbage truck
Battery electric
US Hybrid eCargo Production 120 Li-ion (18650) 104 120 36 4.5 US Hybrid (2016a)
cargo truck
Fuel cell plug-in 28

US Hybrid H2 Cargo Production 200 Li-ion 97 <5 min 120 6.4 US Hybrid (2016c)
cargo truck (9.8 kg)
Electric delivery
Workhorse E-Gen with range 96 (145) 108 2,200 200 60 8.8 Workhorse (2016)
extender
45
ICCT WHITE PAPER
Table A2. Commercial heavy-duty zero emission vehicles in development or production.
Technology Specifications
Battery
kWh
Max Recharge (or Vehicle
Speed Time / Power Hydrogen Gross Load
Range Battery (km/ Refuel Torque output Storage Weight Capacity
Company Name Technology Current Status (km) Chemistry hr) Time (Nm) (kW) kg) (ton) (ton) Source
Battery electric
Artisan 129–161 250 Artisan (2016)
Class 8 drayage
Electric
BYD Q1M terminal tractor Production 15 FePO4 53 1–2 h 1,500 180 209 46 9 BYD (2016a)
(yard truck)
Electric Class 8
BYD T9 Production 148 FePO4 90 2.5 h 2,999 359 188 54 11 BYD (2016d)
truck
Charge Electric truck 2017 160 3.5-26 Charge (2016)
Fully electric
Urban Production Daimler
Daimler heavy-duty 200 Li-Ion 2 × 500 2 × 125 212 26
eTruck 2020 (2016a,2016b)
truck
Dennis Norsk
Electric refuse
Eagle, PVI, Production >150 Li-ion 90 6–8 h 170/255 26.8 9.7 elbilforening
truck
Phoenix (2017)
300
Electric Class 8 6 h (44 E-Force
E-Force Production (city) 200 LiFePO4 87 630 300 240 18 10
truck kW) (2015)
(highway)
Battery electric
EMOSS CM 1212 Production 150 LiFePO4 2.8/5,5 h 950 150 120 12 6.6 EMOSS (2016)
truck
Battery electric
EMOSS CM 1216 Production 200 LiFePO4 3.6/7.3 h 950 150 160 12 6 EMOSS (2016)
truck
Battery electric
EMOSS CM 1220 Production 250 LiFePO4 4.5/9 h 950 150 200 12 5.4 EMOSS (2016)
truck
Class 8 fuel cell 120

ESORO Production 375–400 LiFePO4 10 mins 250 34 t ESORO (2017)
truck (35 kg)
Electric delivery 1,400 155

Ginaf E 2114 Production 105 LiFePO4 120 13.5 t 7.7 Ginaf (2017)
truck (3,400) (280)

Ginaf E 2115 Production 135 LiFePO5 156 13.5 7.7 Ginaf (2017)
truck (3,400) (280)

Ginaf E 2116 Production 150 LiFePO6 180 13.5 7.7 Ginaf (2017)
truck (3,400) (280)
Motiv Power. Electric Class 8 8 h (2.5

80–130 80 3,000 280 170/212 30 20 Motiv (2016b)
Cumberland refuse truck 50%)
Hydrogen fuel
Nikola Motor Production 1290–
NikolaOne cell electric Li-Ion – 2,700 746 320 37-39 29 Nikola (2016)
Company 2020 1930
semi-truck
All-electric
Midlum Renault Trucks
Renault refrigerated 100 Li-Ion 8h 103 150 16 5.5
Truck (2011)
truck
All-electric
Renault Trucks D 120 Li-Ion 7h 103 170 16.3 6 Kane (2014)
truck
Electric Plug-in electric
Symbio Symbio FCell
Dennis hydrogen waste 150 Li-Ion 80 40 85 26 17
FCell (2016)
Eagle truck
Class 8 fuel cell Demonstration
Toyota >320 1800 500 12 36 Toyota (2017)
drayage truck 2017
Electric drayage Li-Ion TransPower

TransPower Elec Truck 110–160 300 215-270 36 26
truck (LFP) (2015)
Fuel cell electric 30 US Hybrid

US Hybrid H2 Truck Development 320 Li-ion 97 <9 min 320 36
drayage truck (25 kg) (2016d)
Battery electric 161 US Hybrid

US Hybrid ETruck Development Li-ion 97 320 240 36
Class 8 truck (@27t) (2016b)
46
Table A3. Long-haul heavy-duty freight truck vehicle component cost breakdown for the different
vehicle technologies. The values used are the best estimates from a variety of literature sources.
Vehicle component costs 2015 2020 2025 2030

U.S. base diesel tractor cost ($) 135,000 135,000 135,000 135,000
EU base diesel tractor cost ($) 135,000 135,000 135,000 135,000
China base diesel tractor cost ($) 60,000 60,000 60,000 60,000
U.S. baseline trailer costs ($) 25,000 25,000 25,000 25,000
EU baseline trailer costs ($) 25,000 25,000 25,000 25,000
China baseline trailer costs ($) 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000
Number of trailers 3 3 3 3
U.S. base truck, "Glider" costs ($) 78,300 78,300 78,300 78,300
EU base truck, "Glider" costs ($) 78,300 78,300 78,300 78,300
China base truck, "Glider" costs ($) 37,400 37,400 37,400 37,400
U.S. other efficiency improvements ($) 2,790 9,580 7,140 26,500
EU other efficiency improvements ($) - - 2,240 8,260
China other efficiency improvements ($) - 1,110 3,170 7,440
Diesel
Engine power (kW) 350 350 350 350
Fuel tank ($) 2,120 2,120 2,120 2,120
Battery ($) 531 531 531 531
Aftertreatment ($) 6,940 6,940 6,940 6,940
U.S. engine efficiency improvements ($) 2,980 6,280 11,900 18,800
EU engine efficiency improvements ($) - - 1,800 5,530
China engine efficiency improvements ($) - 883 4,270 5,330
U.S. total diesel/ICE vehicle cost ($) 210,000 220,000 223,000 250,000
EU total diesel/ICE vehicle cost ($) 204,000 204,000 208,000 218,000
China total diesel/ICE vehicle cost ($) 90,000 91,500 95,100 99,800
Hybrid Battery Electric
U.S. additional costs for hybrids ($) 24,700 21,800 18,600 18,100
EU additional costs for hybrids ($) 24,700 21,800 18,600 18,100
China additional costs for hybrids ($) 11,000 9,680 8,270 8,050
U.S. total hybrid electric vehicle cost ($) 235,000 242,000 242,000 268,000
EU total hybrid electric vehicle cost ($) 229,000 226,000 227,000 236,000
China total hybrid electric vehicle cost ($) 101,000 101,000 103,000 108,000
Natural Gas
LNG SI tank ($/DGE) 246 226 207 187
LNG SI tank capacity (DGE) 173 156 140 123
LNG SI tank cost ($) 42,500 35,300 28,800 23,000
LNG CI tank ($/DGE) 295 272 248 225
LNG CI tank capacity (DGE) 150 136 121 107
LNG CI tank cost ($) 44,300 36,900 30,200 24,100
CNG SI tank ($/DGE) 345 317 290 262
CNG SI tank capacity (DGE) 173 156 140 123
CNG SI tank cost ($) 59,500 49,500 40,400 32,200
Battery cost ($) 531 531 531 531
CI engine ($) 68,900 68,900 68,900 68,900
SI engine ($) 42,900 42,900 42,900 42,900
U.S. total LNG SI vehicle cost ($) 242,000 242,000 233,000 246,000
EU total LNG SI vehicle cost ($) 239,000 232,000 228,000 228,000
China total LNG SI vehicle cost ($) 153,000 147,000 143,000 141,000
47
ICCT WHITE PAPER
Vehicle component costs 2015 2020 2025 2030

U.S. total LNG CI vehicle cost ($) 270,000 269,000 260,000 273,000
EU total LNG CI vehicle cost ($) 267,000 260,000 255,000 255,000
China total LNG CI vehicle cost ($) 118,000 116,000 115,000 117,000
U.S. total CNG SI vehicle cost ($) 259,000 256,000 244,000 255,000
EU total CNG SI vehicle cost ($) 256,000 246,000 239,000 237,000
China total CNG SI vehicle cost ($) 113,000 110,000 108,000 109,000
Dynamic Induction Grid
Battery (kWh) 165 155 143 133
Battery cost ($) 53,800 35,300 24,000 15,900
Additional required BEV systems ($) 19,300 18,100 16,000 14,300
Electric motor (kW) 350 350 350 350
Electric motor ($) 7,960 6,370 5,720 5,080
Dynamic induction grid connection ($) 16,700 11,800 11,500 10,800
U.S. total dynamic induction vehicle cost ($) 254,000 234,000 218,000 226,000
EU total dynamic induction vehicle cost ($) 251,000 225,000 213,000 208,000
China total dynamic induction vehicle cost ($) 165,000 140,000 128,000 121,000
Overhead Catenary
Battery (kWh) 165 155 143 133
Battery cost ($) 53,800 35,300 24,000 15,900
Additional required BEV systems ($) 19,300 18,100 16,000 14,300
Electric motor ($) 7,960 6,370 5,720 5,080
Overhead catenary grid connection ($) 71,700 49,600 21,200 21,200
U.S. total overhead catenary vehicle cost ($) 309,000 272,000 227,000 236,000
EU total overhead catenary vehicle cost ($) 306,000 263,000 222,000 218,000
China total overhead catenary vehicle cost ($) 220,000 178,000 138,000 131,000
Fuel Cell
Power (kW) 350 350 350 350
Fuel cell system ($) 84,000 58,300 31,000 20,500
Compressed gaseous H2 tank ($/kWh) 33 23 21 19
Compressed gaseous H2 tank capacity (kWh) 2,790 2,570 2,570 2,480
Compressed gaseous H2 tank price ($) 92,000 59,100 54,000 47,200
Electric motor ($) 9,080 7,270 6,530 5,800
Battery capacity (kWh) 12 12 12 12
Battery cost ($) 3,910 2,740 2,020 1,430
Additional required FCHEV systems ($) 13,300 11,900 10,800 9,670
U.S. total fuel cell cost—gaseous hydrogen ($) 345,000 290,000 254,000 255,000
EU total fuel cell cost—gaseous hydrogen ($) 342,000 281,000 249,000 236,000
China total fuel cell cost—gaseous hydrogen ($) 256,000 196,000 164,000 150,000
Based on den Boer et al. (2013); Fulton & Miller (2015); Meszler et al. (2015); Posada et al. (2016); Sen et al. (2016)
48
Table A4. Annual vehicle distance traveled (in kilometers) for U.S., EU-28, and China long-haul
heavy-duty vehicles.
Age U.S.a EU-28 China

1 130,832 126,332 153,175
2 119,001 114,908 139,324
3 108,164 104,444 126,636
4 97,441 94,090 114,082
5 87,476 84,467 102,415
6 78,930 76,215 92,409
7 70,940 68,500 83,055
8 63,474 61,291 74,314
9 56,865 54,909 66,576
10 50,887 49,137 59,577
10-Year Total 1,390,490 834,294 1,011,563
a
U.S. EPA & NHTSA, 2011
Table A5. Energy consumption (MJ/km) of each vehicle technology for vehicles purchased in 2015,
2020, 2025, and 2030.
Region 2015 2020 2025 2030

United States 14 13 10 9.3
Diesel China 16 13 12 10
EU-28 12 12 11 9
United States 14 12 10 8.9
Diesel hybrid China 15 13 11 10
EU-28 11 11 10 8.8
United States 16 14 11 10
Liquefied natural gas
China 17 15 13 11
(compression ignition)
EU-28 13 13 12 10
Liquefied natural gas
China 18 15 14 12
(spark ignition)
EU-28 14 14 12 11
Compressed natural gas
China 18 15 14 12
(spark ignition)
EU-28 14 14 12 11
United States 9.5 8.8 8.2 7.6
Hydrogen fuel cell China 9.5 8.8 8.2 7.6
EU-28 9.5 8.8 8.2 7.6
Electric overhead catenary China 5.7 5.3 4.9 4.5
EU-28 5.7 5.3 4.9 4.5
Electric dynamic induction China 9.0 8.2 7.5 6.9
EU-28 9.0 8.2 7.5 6.9
Diesel conversion: 36.66 MJ/l
49
ICCT WHITE PAPER
Table A6. Fuel cost projections from 2015 to 2040
Fuel Prices
Vehicle Region 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040
United States 2.14 3.42 4.27 4.83 5.15 5.47
Diesel ($/gallon) China 2.53 4.00 5.00 5.73 6.03 6.40
EU-28 3.72 5.94 7.43 8.40 8.95 9.51
United States 15.08 17.12 16.28 15.71 15.18 14.94
CNG ($/MMBTU) China 7.22 7.59 7.22 6.97 6.73 6.63
EU-28 13.92 14.65 13.94 13.44 12.99 12.79
United States 17.62 18.54 17.64 17.01 16.44 16.19
LNG ($/MMBTU) China 7.82 8.23 7.83 7.55 7.30 7.18
EU-28 15.06 15.87 15.10 14.57 14.08 13.86
United States 6.00 5.46 4.93 4.39 3.85 3.32
Hydrogen from
China 6.00 5.46 4.93 4.39 3.85 3.32
Natural Gas ($/dge)
EU-28 6.00 5.46 4.93 4.39 3.85 3.32
United States 11.00 9.66 8.31 6.97 5.63 4.28
Hydrogen from
Renewable Pathways China 11.00 9.66 8.31 6.97 5.63 4.28
($/dge) EU-28 11.00 9.66 8.31 6.97 5.63 4.28
United States 0.10 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.13 0.13
Electricity ($/kWh) China 0.09 0.10 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14
EU-28 0.14 0.19 0.21 0.22 0.22 0.21
50
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53

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WHITE PAPER SEPTEMBER 2017

BEI J I NG | BERLIN | B R U SS E LS | SAN FRANCIS CO | WAS H INGTO N

International Council on Clean Transportation

[email protected] | www.theicct.org | @TheICCT

© 2017 International Council on Clean Transportation

Executive summary................................................................................................................... iii

II. Review of heavy-duty vehicle technology developments............................................ 5

III. Technology cost analysis .................................................................................................15

IV. Analysis of emissions impacts.........................................................................................25

V. Findings and conclusions................................................................................................ 30

Figure 2. Projected global freight activity and life-cycle greenhouse gas

Figure 3. Ranges of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks currently

Figure 7. Lifecycle CO2e emissions from Europe heavy-duty tractor-trailer

Table 2. Medium-duty electric vehicle demonstration projects.....................................................7

Table 3. Heavy-duty electric vehicle demonstration projects....................................................... 8

Table 4. In-road and catenary charging heavy-duty electric vehicle

Table 6. Estimated vehicle component costs for vehicles purchased in 2015–2030........... 15

Table 9. GHG emissions from EU tractor-trailers for baseline, fuel cell

Table 10. Summary of promising segments, benefits, and barriers for

In this report, we assess zero-emission heavy-duty vehicle technology to support

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Electric-drive heavy-duty vehicle technologies are essential to fully decarbonize

By 2030, electric-drive heavy-duty vehicle technologies could offer cost-effective

Different electric-drive technologies are suitable for different heavy-duty vehicle

There is growing interest in deploying advanced technologies in heavy-duty freight

Heavy-duty vehicles’ disproportionate contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions

Heavy truck activity Medium truck activity

Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions (Billion metric ton CO2e)

Although increased vehicle efficiency and modern aftertreatment technology to reduce

To inform such government activities on zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles, it is

In Section II, we review heavy-duty vehicle technology developments to compile data

II. REVIEW OF HEAVY-DUTY VEHICLE

HEAVY-DUTY VEHICLE POLICY BACKGROUND

By improving engine efficiency, aerodynamics, and aftertreatment technology, there

REVIEW OF RESEARCH LITERATURE

Table 1. Quantitative studies of medium- and heavy-duty electric-drive vehicles.

Vehicle Types Technology Analysis

Battery-powered drivetrains could also be used in other types of heavy-duty vehicles,

DEMONSTRATIONS AND EXAMPLES

Tables 2 through 5 summarize available information on such zero-emission truck projects

Table 2. Medium-duty electric vehicle demonstration projects.

Technology Organization Location Time frame Description Source

Eight vehicles used in trials for short-range delivery and

Testing of the all-electric D-range on delivery rounds of over

Renault Trucks is testing two concept trucks that combined

German Post AG,

Maxity electric Pilot customers operated between 10 and 30 pre-production Renault

CalHEAT, California Energy Comprehensive performance evaluation of 3 E-Truck models

UPS deployed 100 electric medium-duty delivery trucks

BAAQMD, CARB, San

Houston- Deployment of 18 all electric delivery trucks, estimated to

Implementation of a smart charging system with energy

Purolator is testing of an all-electric delivery truck developed

Rotterdam, Deployed and tested 16 7.5-ton electrically retrofitted P80E FREVUE

Table 3. Heavy-duty electric vehicle demonstration projects.

Technology Organization Location Time frame Description Source

Statewide demonstration project of 43 zero-emission

Demonstration of 4 Class 8 fully battery electric

Two-year demonstration project of 23 battery-electric

The City of Chicago uses an all-electric refuse