Electric vehicles (EVs) may benefit the environment, but a handful of downsides continue to make some people hesitant to make the transition. “Range anxiety”, the fear of running out of power while on the road and having nowhere to recharge, is one of the biggest deterrents.
Giving people peace of mind that they won’t run out of juice is one way for EV makers to get over this hurdle. The Stellantis Ram brand is doing just that with its Ramcharger pickup truck, CBS News reports. The vehicle can travel 145 miles on electricity and has a 3.6-liter V6 gas-powered engine that’s connected to generator that recharges the battery while the truck’s in motion.
“There's so many advantages to a battery electric vehicle, but there are certain things that are slowing people down,” Tim Kuniskis, CEO of the Ram brand said. Kuniskis noted with the Ramcharger he can tell customers, “You don't have to worry about it with this.”
When the Ramcharger is at “full power”, meaning the battery is 100 percent charged the generator’s 27-gallon gas tank is full, it can travel up to 690 miles. The vehicle’s battery can be charged at the owner’s home or a direct-current fast-charging station. The latter can supply the battery with enough electricity to add 50 miles of range in 10 minutes, according to the company.
Ram engineers also said the truck can power a house during a storm as well as tools on a work site. The vehicle’s uniqueness comes from the gas engine’s ability to produce the electricity necessary to charge the battery—but the engine does not turn the wheels directly.
“(Stellantis) has a package that could be the right mix for people that would like to be able to go electric, have the performance of an electric powertrain but also still have that confidence to go long distances and tow a boat or jet skis,” Guidehouse Insights analyst Sam Abuelsamid said. "They can just stop and put gas in it.
Could hydrogen solve commercial EVs’ range anxiety?
Stellantis’ Ramcharger’s generator-battery solution might work well for a passenger EV that needs to tow or haul things, but things get more complicated for more heavy-duty vehicles. Relying solely on battery technology isn’t an option for big-rig, long-range trucks—at least not right now.
The battery required for a bigger truck so it could cover more than 600 miles would need to be heavy and expensive. Or the drivers would have to take long recharging breaks, which could cost trucking companies money during that time, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Hydrogen has become a popular alternative to help power heavy-duty trucks. The element is appealing because it is light and can be put into a truck in about 10 to 15 minutes to refuel it—much like diesel. Internal-combustion engines that could run on hydrogen is another option, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Commercial truck companies see how passenger vehicle manufacturers are investing into the transition to electric and realize the price tag will only be bigger for them. It’s why their search for battery alternatives is so vast. Volvo and Daimler, two of the world’s largest truck manufacturers, are still testing hydrogen trucks. The companies are looking to begin mass production during the second half of the decade as infrastructure is expected to improve. The European Union has a goal to have hydrogen fueling stations every 124 miles along the regions key routes by 2031.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s all-electric Semi truck that was unveiled about a year ago has shown why non-battery solutions are crucial for commercial EVs. PepsiCo, its launch customer, initially used the vehicle to ship light cargo such as potato chips. More recently, Pepsi noted that it’s best to run the Semis for about 12 hours a day on routes that are mostly less than 100 miles.
Three of the Semis are dedicated to “long-haul routes”—250 to 450 miles, however. Tesla Megachargers stationed around these routes can reportedly take the trucks’ batteries from 5 percent charged to 95 percent charged in 20 to 30 minutes.
For commercial truck makers to fully thrive in the EV transition, they will likely have to embrace a combination of battery and hydrogen power. Batteries alone would be too costly at this point, and the hydrogen solution is not without its challenges. For example, the refueling infrastructure is one of the element’s biggest weaknesses.
While passenger vehicle manufacturers seem to have the EV switch figured out with batteries, questions have come up about whether or not the truck-charging infrastructure could change the car business, The Wall Street Journal reports.
“Why just leave it to the heavy trucks?” Thomas Becker, head of sustainability and mobility at BWM said. The automaker has recently started discussing the potential of hydrogen cars after a period of playing them down.
Either way, the EV path for commercial vehicles looks to be a costly and challenging one.
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