EV semi is coming. Just not as quickly as other EVs

It appears there is a missing category in the electric vehicle tsunami.

Consumers' needs are covered with a variety of price points and body styles on sale now and with several more coming shortly, from small hatchbacks, to sedans large and small, to crossovers and full-size pickups.

Established automakers and newcomers such as Lordstown, Bollinger and Canoo are all getting in on the act. EV fleet customers are getting more choice as well, with several cities ordering electric buses from companies such as Solaris, Proterra and VDL Bus & Coach. Hydrogen fuel cell big rigs are becoming more and more common, too.

What's missing? Battery-electric Class 8 semitrucks. While there are a few out there now in test fleets, and they'll eventually come to roads near you, it doesn't seem to be happening at the same pace as other categories.

Daimler Trucks North America said its Freightliner subsidiary's battery-electric eCascadia has reached 1 million miles of "real-world usage," with fleets, including Penske Truck Leasing and UPS, operating on the West Coast and in Canada.

The company says the eCascadia has up to a 250-mile range, between 360 and 500 hp and an 82,000-pound gross vehicle weight. The company also says it is "fully prepared to create and sustain the building blocks" customers need to transition to battery-electric trucking.

Volvo hopes to have its VNR electric Class 8 trucks on Southern California roads. Volvo began taking orders for the truck last December. The 455-hp EV has a range up to 150 miles, Volvo says, and an 82,000-pound gross vehicle weight "in certain applications."

In September, Automotive News re- ported that in Ulm, Germany, Nikola offered the public a look at the production line it plans to use to start building its Tre BEV by year end. Nikola claims up to 350 miles of range and an 82,000-pound gross vehicle weight. Nikola said that next year the Ulm plant will build as many as 100 trucks, with demand far exceeding capacity.

A few other truckmakers are offering electric semitrucks for short-haul applications such as taking a container from a rail car distribution hub or running short delivery routes. Kenworth's electric T680E has been available for order for about a year and has an estimated 150-mile range, while Peterbilt hopes to have its 579EV, with a 150-mile range, in customers' hands this year. Peterbilt says it has taken more than 400 orders. BYD's 8TT is also for shorter hauls.

Tesla's semitruck was introduced in 2017 but hasn't been produced yet. The company says it will go on sale next year.

As to why there are fewer electric semitrucks, there are several reasons.

As with the other types of EVs either on sale or being developed, lack of charging infrastructure is a major obstacle and even more crucial when talking about big rigs.

Also, as with the consumer market, range anxiety is factor. The trucking business is about "hauling weight," Peterbilt spokesman Tim Olson told Shift, "and batteries are very heavy, so the more batteries you add to increase the range of the truck, the less goods you can haul in the trailer. So at some point it cuts into profits."

IHS Markit principal automotive analyst Stephanie Brinley said the conversion of the nation's semitruck fleet to electric vehicles is "happening a little more slowly, but there are also different challenges for this sector, and it often does trail light-vehicle adoption of safety and fuel efficiency measures.

"We expect that a dual ZEV solution is more viable for Class 8 trucks, with both battery-electric and fuel cell electric solutions, based in different use cases."

She said with shorter-haul applications, a fleet can mitigate concerns about range, charging infrastructure and payload penalty. Brinley sees the fuel cell solution to likely be better for long-haul tractor-trailer applications, where longer range and quicker refueling times are necessary, and that long term both fuel cells and battery-electric trucks will have a role.

Terry Rivers, vice president of maintenance at Cox Automotive's Dickinson Fleet Services, said hydrogen fuel cells are better for long hauling because hydrogen has far better energy density than a lithium ion or solid-state battery.

"I haven't heard of any battery with anywhere near the fuel cell's energy density. It's probably not impossible, but I haven't heard of any."

Nonetheless Peterbilt's Olson is confident the hurdles will be overcome and that the battery-electric Class 8 truck is coming.

"The interest in trucking in the EV space is off the charts," he said.

"Right now the bigger issue is the ability for deliveries and the infrastructure to charge it, so for long hauls battery-electric doesn't make sense. But with any technology, as it advances, range will increase and at some point there will be a tipping point."