The RAI Association, the Dutch trade association for passenger cars and trucks, wants more charging stations for electric trucks to be installed soon. Otherwise the environmental objectives are unattainable. The energy network must quickly become heavier and smarter.
Frits van Bruggen, chairman of the RAI, says in the NOS Radio 1 Journaal that there will soon be about twenty fast charging stations around cities for electric trucks and vans. According to him, that number will grow to about 40 charging stations, but he emphasizes that more stations are also needed en route to provide the trucks with power. It is expected that in 2030 there will be thousands of electric trucks on the road that together have a power demand comparable to that of a million households. More fast charging stations especially for trucks are therefore quickly needed, says the RAI chairman, also because due to the larger batteries and limited charging times for heavy trucks, the required charging capacities are much higher than those for passenger cars.
“The substantial investments required for public fast charging points for trucks have not yet been made available,” says Frits van Bruggen. pass. If you drive to a city now and we want to go in with electric trucks and vans, how many of those poles do you see? They don’t exist at all, or hardly at all. If we want to switch from petrol or diesel to batteries, the infrastructure has to change. With great urgency, and that is why we are sounding the alarm.”
There are currently only a few electric trucks in the Netherlands; about 340 on about 160,000 trucks. More charging facilities are unavoidable for the arrival of more electric trucks, says Van Bruggen: “It is a bit of a chicken and egg discussion. We can make the trucks, but they cannot load them and that is why they are not ordered. On the other hand, to to load it, those trucks have to be there. We can never go into the cities electrically in this way. It is much too slow.”
There are more and more charging stations for passenger cars along the roads, but according to the RAI chairman, trucks cannot use them. “It starts with this: if you were to drive into such a fast charging station with such a truck, the roof would be off,” he says. In addition, according to him, the charging stations can be expanded with more cables, so that electric trucks can also go there, but that is not happening at the moment.
In addition, the use of hydrogen and hybrid trucks must be considered. Van Burggen states that there is currently ‘little or no’ investment in hydrogen infrastructure. Furthermore, in view of the environmental objectives, he would like to see temporary hybrid trucks allowed. “Then you drive electrically in the city and outside the city on diesel and petrol. That way we can also speed up the process.” In his view, such an exception is necessary because emission-free zones will be introduced in cities from 2025, which means that diesel trucks are no longer allowed to enter the city.
