Given the significant infrastructure hurdles in the race to battery electric trucks, a reduced total cost of ownership – largely helped by the absence of fuel expenses and maintenance savings from not having an engine or driveline – has been the biggest pro-battery electric truck argument to-date. However, recent analysis by Ryder found that may not be the case, and those overall savings may not exist – at least not universally for all motor carriers.
Based on representative network loads and routes from Ryder’s dedicated fleet operations in today’s market and other factors, the data published Wednesday shows the annual total cost to transport (TCT) by EV versus diesel is estimated to increase across the board, ranging from up to 5% for light-duty transit to more than double for a heavy-duty tractor (depending on the geographic area). And, for a mixed fleet of 25 light-, medium- and heavy- duty vehicles, the analysis shows an increased TCT of up to 67% for an all-electric fleet.
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Ryder last year introduced a new turnkey solution, RyderElectric+, with EV advisory, vehicle lease, charging, telematics, and maintenance services, and is among the early movers in the electric trucking space, yet Chairman and CEO Robert Sanchez said that while Ryder is actively deploying EVs and charging infrastructure where it makes sense for customers today, "we are not seeing significant adoption of this technology."
"For many of our customers, the business case for converting to EV technology just isn’t there yet, given the limitations of the technology and lack of sufficient charging infrastructure," he said. "With regulations continuing to evolve, we wanted to better understand the potential impacts to businesses and consumers if companies were required to transition to EV in today’s market.”
There are roughly 16.4 million Class 3-8 commercial vehicles in operation in the U.S., and only about 18,000 are EVs, according to CALSTART. Ryder’s analysis estimates cost increases to convert heavy-duty and mixed fleets to EVs could cumulatively add approximately 0.5% to 1% to overall inflation as those costs get passed along to consumers.
Ryder
