There’s still some doubt floating about in regard to whether trucks will become electrified.

However, many professionals in the freight sector believe that the adoption of electric vehicle technology will happen faster than expected for four main reasons.

Why We’ll Soon see Electrified Trucks on our Roads

The four main reasons why we’ll soon see electrified trucks on our roads include:

• Believe it or not, most of today’s big trucks are already running on electricity that’s generated through a large diesel generator.
• DHL is the world’s biggest truck buyer and they’re already redesigning and buying electric trucks because they’ve seen how, when combined with the use of a diesel generator, they’re three times more efficient.
• There’s a growing amount of regulatory pressure being placed on the trucking industry in regards to particle and CO2 emissions. Unfortunately, many of these governing bodies are banning the use of a diesel generator in their city even though this is your second best option to an electric rig.
• We live in unprecedented times. Never before have so many intelligent, well-educated people worked together in businesses to push innovation forward at such an incredible speed. This is very beneficial in many ways – including driving down costs while improving performance. China is leading the way here, helping to drive down costs around the rest of the world.

While these things will take some time to play out, this shouldn’t be surprising since it’s taken over 100 years of experience to reach the point we’re at in this industry today. With the help of things like computers this won’t take another 100 years though. In fact, all things are working in favor of quick development in this regard, which is why so many professionals believe that we’re going to see trucking companies make this switch to electric rigs in the near future.

Various Alternatives Available

Natural gas (both Compressed Natural Gas, a.k.a. CNG, and Liquified Natural Gas, a.k.a. LNG) is gaining a lot of traction as “the fuel of the future.” This is because it’s the cleanest type of fossil fuel – giving off the lowest carbon intensity. From an environmental standpoint, natural gas vehicles are 15% less fuel efficient than those that use a diesel generator.

Hydrogen is another option, but the economics of creating, transporting, and burning it in an inefficient internal combustion engine makes no economic sense and won’t ever do so. The only way it makes any sense is to use it to use hydrogen in combination with electricity and a fuel cell which reduces the amount needed. Even if there were a lot of fuel cell trucks available, the infrastructure necessary for refueling them doesn’t exist.

Eventually we’re going to watch as electric trucks become commonplace on our streets. However, u ntil that time comes, buying trucks with a diesel generator in them is your best choice. Mid Florida Diesel is here to help you with maintaining them so you can get the most out of using them. Give them a call for all your needs.

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