Passenger vehicles get all the attention when any revolutionizing idea buzzes up the transportation industry.
But we often miss the fact that the U.S. freight industry consumes 2.8 million barrels of oil every day. That’s roughly equal to 1.02 billion barrels per year.
With America being one of the influential voices against climate change— they needed to show some environmental-grit against the smoke-guzzling semi-trucks and transportations.
Nevertheless, the logistic transport companies have taken it as a challenge and are undergoing a profound shift, as rapid as personal vehicles.
As many countries are looking to ban non-renewable-powered vehicles in the upcoming future, we need future-ready trucking systems that use electric solutions to speed up the long-haul freight management industry.
The desperate urge to have environmentally-friendly transport has ignited many veteran trucking manufacturers and start-ups to cater to the best electric semi-truck.
The United States of America needs a greater diversity in fuel choices for logistics and transportation service providers.
We are highly reliable on fuels as we consume 20% of global petroleum. With our extreme reliance on these conventional sources of energy— we are always subjected to price hikes and disrupted supply.
Further, the ever-volatile market makes it harder for the logistics transport companies to manage transportation overhead cost.
As logistic costs rise by 11.4%— the truckers have a strenuous task to manage their accounts optimally.
One strong reason to move ahead with electric trucks: no more fuel worries.
An average truck is driven for 115,000 miles per year, and a hike of 0.50$ per gallon costs over thousands of dollars per vehicle. Imagine a trucking company with hundreds of such trucks.
Of course, the prices of fuels go down— but with the overall inflation touching new peaks every year— the substantial investment in gas will always look ever-present, and it’s best to get rid of it once and for all.
The new-generation of fully-electric truck-types reduce all the market vulnerabilities and bring in more stability.
It’s not that innovations haven’t moved an inch. We have got control over 95% of emissions in the past two decades.
Not long ago— one truck would emit harmful gases equivalent to 70 trucks. But we had a minimal number of vehicles.
However, the number-game has changed. The U.S. sold 13 million light plus heavy vehicles last year, and there are more than 15.5 million logistics trucks that run on the road network.
With those huge sales figures— the cumulative emission may give the environment and natural resources a tough time.
A little tweak in logistic-designing has enhanced the aerodynamics of trucks.
The aerodynamics of the traditional logistic-designings taxed a lot of gas and diesel. The trucks had to apply a lot of force to overcome air resistance and move forward.
But a little change in designing has saved hundreds and thousands in gas every year. By adding and removing simple tweaks on tires, bumpers, truck skirts, and mirrors— we have got control over a significant part of emission and prolonged the lifespan of trucks.
The new fully-electric semi-trucks have ignored all the designing rules. Their main objective is to enhance the truck’s aerodynamic efficiency so that they don’t consume much energy.
One way of attaining trucking optimization and stable service-pricing is by using fully-electric semi-trucks.
Logistic companies are switching to fully-electric semi-trucks for resolving most of the market volatility issue and cutting down the fueling costs in half.
No more stopping to fill up on diesel. Drivers simply have to plug the trucks for a quick charge, pretty much like the smartphones and they’re good to serve customers and the environment.
Since almost all the U.S. electricity is yielded from domestic sources like natural gas, coal, renewable sources, and nuclear energy— the logistic trucking companies will hardly face any difficulty in reaching power grids for energy.
This way, companies will have a balanced service-pricing to offer and can get competitive with other trucking rivalries.
Few fully-electric semi-truck manufacturing companies are already giving food for thought.
#1 Nikola Corp
Based in America, Nikola Corp has planned to deliver Tre battery-electric semi-truck by next year.
They are also eyeing to take orders for two fuel cell-electric models and deliver them by 2023.
So far now, the company has three-prototype trucks— each having its speciality depending on the needs of the specific demographic.
With a 1000 horsepower engine, the company claims a mileage of 500 to 1000 miles per sitting of charge.
Charging session is its unique selling point. A company should expect the truck to charge in merely 20 minutes.
The semi-truck allows drivers to hit 60 mph in three seconds. That’s quite remarkable as the concern to gratify customers as early as possible has grown.
Having all the features of modern-day electric trucking— the price of electric fuel cell trucks doesn’t surprise. It commences at $60,000 and can go up to $90,000.
#2 Tesla, Inc
With Elon Musk being its primary face, Tesla, Inc has been gathering traction ever since it revealed its two concept electric semi-truck models in 2017.
The production of Tesla’s Class 8 heavy-duty truck is suspected of hitting in 2021.
Having an electric range of 300 to 500 miles and hauls under 250 miles— the drivers can take round-trips without having to charge the vehicle again.
The company boasts 0 to 60 mph in 5 seconds dismissing all the concerns encircling around quicker delivery.
Musk plans to manufacture & deliver limited volumes (close to 100,000/year) of the semis to research the performance and organic acceptance in the market.
Semi Class 8 electric trucks are way costlier than Nikola Corp’s electricity backed semi-trucks. Tesla announced that the prices would linger between $150,000 to $180,000. $150,000 for a 300-mile electric range, and $180,000 for a 500-mile electric range.
Tesla-semis has already been pre-booked by hundreds of giant brands pushing the industries to accept the norm of new trucking generation.
While some played doubting Thomas about Tesla breaking into the trucking industry— the booking from Pavilion, Pepsi, Walmart, FedEx, etc. suggest that Tesla has already defeated scepticism.
The rise in manufacturing of electric semis means a world of goods for small to medium-sized trucking businesses.
Apart from Nikola and Tesla— long-serving trucking companies such as BMW, Ford, Volvo, Daimler, etc. have also stepped up their games in building electric semis.
As big-named brands aim to cut their overhead costs with these electric-trucks, the non-branded ones face the pressure to leap.
But the rising competition between the truck manufacturing companies has brought a shade of new hope for the small to medium-sized transport service providers.
As countries look to ban conventional-fuel-based trucks by 2040, more manufacturing competition will push the market to adapt to these changes organically and free earth of major climate-catastrophes.
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