I had the pleasure of taking part in a very interesting discussion on the challenges of electrifying freight transport, as part of Impulsion Montréal in September, alongside Victor Poudelet, Director, Sustainable Mobility City Project at Propulsion Québec. These challenges are considerable. A thorough analysis of the actual use of vehicles in a fleet, an assessment of changes to be made in asset and route management, not to mention the whole issue of charging infrastructure and the implementation of new maintenance programs.
However, these challenges come with a host of opportunities on many levels. And while the accumulation of obstacles is often called a perfect storm, I would dare to argue that in the case of transport electrification, there is every reason to speak of an equally perfect sunrise.
First, for the development and transition to medium- and heavy-duty trucks to be commercially viable, it is essential to have solid, comprehensive evidence, both on the real-world performance of vehicles offered by different manufacturers and on carriers’ regular routes and the energy demand required to make given deliveries. Thanks to the development of telematics in recent years, these detailed data and insights are now available and are already contributing to various analysis projects, such as the Run on Less Electric led by the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE). This brand-new electric component of NACFE’s energy consumption reduction program, established for the first time this year, allows the evaluation of the performance of several electric trucks from different manufacturers under real operating conditions. And the technology used to measure the key performance indicators is quite familiar to us at AttriX.
But beyond the technologies, there are also the people. And this is probably where transport electrification becomes more of an asset than an obstacle. Long before other areas of the economy, the trucking industry has been heavily affected by labor shortages. This shortage is particularly acute among truck drivers and maintenance staff. To address this need, carriers are turning to different solutions but are specifically aiming to improve the image of an industry often seen as very polluting and even archaic by the younger generation. Another source of labor sought by trucking is women, who are increasingly taking up the profession of heavy-duty truck driver.
For both young people and women, excessively long working hours and schedules that are difficult to manage for those with children at home are one of the main barriers to recruitment. The significant changes that carriers will have to make in route management with the electrification of their fleets, by breaking up long routes into shorter segments, will thereby help partly resolve this problem of schedules that are hard to manage or too demanding for drivers. Electrification thus becomes a way to boost recruitment.
Moreover, as we have observed during our thousands of hours of training drivers on new technologies such as the electronic logging device for recording driving hours, the younger generation is fond of these new technologies. Carriers that have successfully adopted new dispatch technologies thanks to telematics have clearly seen the enthusiasm of these young people.
Those who have followed the evolution of heavy trucks in recent years have also observed the massive arrival of new technologies in the vehicles themselves. Automated transmissions, fully digital dashboards, collision mitigation systems and blind-spot monitoring — today’s trucks are just as high-tech as most of our cars.
The electrification of heavy trucks is actually just an extension of this trend, which inevitably leads to profound changes in the vehicles, the way they are driven, maintained and operated profitably. From “trucker,” the new truck drivers will become operators of cutting-edge eco-friendly transport equipment. Much more appealing in a recruitment campaign.
Added to that are the many shipper and consignee customers of carriers who request specific information in their specifications about the carbon footprint of their service providers. Retail giants are among the first to adopt electrified solutions for their own fleets, and already include sustainability criteria in their agreements with business partners. As for cities and municipalities, we all know it is only a matter of time before they establish "zero-emission" zones in their territories. In short, without denying the many challenges that a successful transition to electrified freight transport represents, it would be desirable to adopt a more positive approach focused on benefits that go far beyond environmental impacts and energy cost reduction. Some have already understood this and do not hesitate to promote their green shift. And inevitably, others will follow.
Bref, sans pour autant nier les nombreux défis que représente une transition réussie de l’électrification du transport de marchandises, il serait souhaitable d’adopter une approche plus positive, axée sur les bénéfices qui vont bien au-delà des impacts environnementaux et de la réduction des coûts en énergie. Certains l’ont déjà compris et n’hésitent pas à faire la promotion de leur virage vert. Et inévitablement, d’autres suivront.
