Assessing the Role of Electric Heavy-Duty Trucks in Tackling Environmental Pollution and Energy Insecurity

Ever since the Earth Summit took place in Rio in 1992, automobile and heavy vehicle manufacturers have slowly started shifting towards electric mobility. The Paris Climate Summit in 2016 further fastened this shift towards electric mobility. Hence, in the past few years, several leading automobile manufacturing companies like Tesla, Toyota, Mahindra, Tata, etc., have come up with their flagship models which have eclipsed traditional vehicles running on fossil fuels. However, as per many environmental experts, the shift to electric mobility is incomplete unless traditional heavy vehicles like trucks and buses go “green”.

How Electric Heavy-Duty Trucks Can Further Push Environmental Sustainability

Though not as fast as passenger vehicles, heavy-duty truck manufacturers, too, are slowly phasing out engines running on non-renewable fossil fuels. In fact, as per a report published by Research Dive, the shift towards hybrid and electric mobility is one of the biggest growth drivers of the global heavy-duty trucks market. This is further substantiated by International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organization providing policy recommendations, which has reported that the sales of electric heavy-duty trucks have doubled over the 2020 volumes, thus, signaling the start of a massive shift towards electric mobility.

Various studies have shown that traditional heavy-duty trucks are some of the biggest emitters and fastest-growing source of air pollution, especially in developed economies like the US. To be precise, heavy-duty trucks have contributed to more than 80% of nitrous oxide emissions in 2015 alone. This has massive environmental and health implications; nitrous oxide is one of the major components of acid rain and is a powerful greenhouse gas with a global warming potential of 300 times that of carbon dioxide. Not just in the US, heavy-duty trucks and vehicles account for only 1-2% of the vehicular traffic in countries like India but contribute to more than 40% of the vehicular emissions. These numbers show that heavy-duty vehicles’ shift towards electric mobility must happen swiftly for “electric revolution” to materialize in true sense.

How Electric Heavy-Duty Trucks Can Help Developing Countries Achieve Energy Security

Crude oil is probably the most crucial product that countries like Germany, China, India, Brazil, etc., import. The role played by oil, petrol, and similar products in these countries is so diverse, that any disruptions in global oil supply chains affect the entire economy and security of these countries. This virtually puts these countries at the risk of depending on another country for crucial products which can have serious implications for the energy security and sovereignty of the importing country. Moreover, since the natural distribution of oil resources is extremely skewed in favor of some countries, it leaves importing countries no option but to give in to certain demands of oil-rich countries in return for a regular supply of energy resources.

Electric mobility, by offering an alternative to the traditional fossil-fuel driven economy, provides oil-importing countries a reasonable way out. Electric heavy-duty trucks can especially help in reducing the dependence on oil as traditional heavy-duty trucks, due to their sheer weight and load carrying capacity, are some of the biggest oil and petrol consumers.

Future Course for Heavy-Duty Trucks and Electric Mobility

The importance of introducing “electric revolution” in heavy-duty vehicles segment has compelled many governments to take proactive steps and push automobile manufacturers to engage in designing, developing, and launching of advanced heavy-duty vehicles at the earliest. Norway, China, India, the US, and many other European countries have been at the forefront of this kind of governmental intervention. Also, investments by leading private automobile companies in their respective electric mobility R&D departments have increased in the past few years. This public-private partnership has given some amazing results; for example, Infraprime Logistics Technology (IPLT), a startup based in India, recently released India’s first all-electric heavy-duty truck. This truck has already been in commercial use for some months now and has received positive reviews, thus boosting the case of electric heavy-duty vehicles. Similar product launches will go a long way in spreading awareness regarding the need for electric mobility revolution.

About the Author(s)

Princy A. J

Princy holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the prestigious Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. University at Chennai, India. After a successful academic record, she pursued her passion for writing. A thorough professional and enthusiastic writer, she enjoys writing on various categories and advancements in the global industries. She plays an instrumental role in writing about current updates, news, blogs, and trends.