Electric.ie May/June 2021

14 ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • Siemens Siemens: Helping fleet operators transition to full electric trucks in urban areas T rucks are responsible for a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gases on the EU’s roads. In a recent study, trucks were found to have generated 22% of road transport CO2 emissions yet only accounted for less than 2% of the overall traffic on Europe’s roads*. While not on the same adoption trajectory as electric cars or e-buses, technological advancements in haulage vehicles and active innovations in the charging infrastructure are expected to close the gap between electric trucks (eTrucks), electric cars and e-bus adoptions. “Electric truck charging installations face similar, if not, many of the same operational challenges as e-Bus environments, which have taught us much about the electrification of transport. These learnings have translated into invaluable insights about the use of optimum charging strategies, efficient grid management and workable financial models,” noted Bernard Magee, Director, Electric Vehicle Charging, Siemens. As major OEMs introduce more eTrucks into the global marketplace, fleet operators will determine the charging approaches for each use case and weight class i.e. light commercial ർ Commercial fleets are responsible for a disproportionate amount of CO2 emissions on the roads ർ Learnings from the electrification of buses are paving the way for cleaner commercial fleets ർ The road to decarbonising transport needs to gather pace if Ireland is to achieve its goal to be net-zero carbon by 2050 vehicles, medium and large inner-city vehicles, heavy-duty intercity transports or specialised applications such as electric refuse collection trucks. Technological and economic factors govern whether slower low-power AC or faster high-power DC charging will be adopted. “It’s all about managing the vehicle power demand as efficiently as possible and perfecting a balance that minimises the level of power drawn from the grid,” explained Magee. "High-power DC charging is more commonplace in fast turnaround use cases where 2-3 hours recharging is needed to get vehicles back on the roads. There will be a healthy mix of these two approaches with specific implementation being dictated by fleet operational requirements. It should be emphasised that time and effort should be afforded to the development of an efficient charging strategy considering the fleet operation and vehicle characteristics."