Diesel heavy-duty vehicles often used for delivery and long-haul trucking contribute to emissions in the U.S. and impact the environment. An encouraging sign can be seen in the growing popularity of electric vehicles by consumers and companies. In the future, this will include the implementation of fleets of heavy-duty electric vehicles for commercial use.
For such a large-scale implementation to occur, the energy infrastructure in the U.S. must be able to support the charging requirements for these vehicles. Research by VTTI’s Division of Data and Analytics (DDA) centers around the travel patterns for heavy-duty vehicles using data related to existing electric vehicle charging stations throughout the country. The purpose of this study is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of charging infrastructure and anticipate what changes will be necessary for broad implementation of heavy-duty electric vehicles.
Future DDA research will examine the energy required to charge heavy-duty electric vehicles and analyze the effect of charging such vehicles on the power grid in both high-traffic and low-traffic areas.
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