CV Political Topics: Infrastructure

For all three of the technologies discussed in the section "CV Political Topics: Emissions", however, adequate infrastructure in a single region already poses a great challenge to their respective commercial viability. So far, no infrastructure can yet support one of these technologies; for example, LNG is highly dependent on specialized machinery to cool the fossil fuel down to a liquid. Then, because LNG is a natural resource and its distribution is highly regional, an efficient functioning transport system must be in place to distribute it to regions without access. This is one of the reasons it will likely not become the most popular powertrain in Europe; LNG will likely only prevail for long-distance heavy-duty CVs and medium-duty CVs for inter-city use in regions with a steady supply, such as Italy [1]. For other uses and regions, the costs of infrastructure and transport will likely be too high to seriously contend with hydrogen fuel cell technology. On the other hand, hydrogen fuel cell capabilities depend on available refueling stations all around the country, as well as an abundance of cheap electric power [1] [2]. Furthermore, a reliable distribution of affordable hydrogen is also necessary for the effective implementation of this powertrain [2]. And while an expensive technology at the moment, hydrogen fuel cell engines are expected to break even with diesel combustion engines in terms of TCO around 2030 [2], thus becoming more attractive to commercial customers. Lastly, battery-powered electric vehicles, requiring more frequent charging as well as higher charging times compared to the other alternatives, therefore requires more extensive charging infrastructure. Here, however, the infrastructure itself is already relatively mature, the challenge is the lack of widespread availability of charging stations to date [3]. Because batteries are very heavy at this point in time, the current mileage rate per charge is limited; BEVs are thus more suited to inner-city short-distance transport with lighter vehicles [1] [3]. This means that infrastructure “only” has to be developed within cities, which makes the infrastructure challenge for BEVs significantly simpler to solve than the long-haul solutions.

Sources

[1] Jentzsch, A., Janda, J., Xu, G., Wiedenhoff, P., Girisch, A. (2019). The Future of Commercial Vehicles — How New Technologies Are Transforming The Industry. The Boston Consulting Group.

[2] Heid, B., Martens, C. & Orthofer, A. (2021). How hydrogen combustion engines can contribute to zero emissions. McKinsey & Company.

[3] Renschler, A. (2020). The commercial vehicle industry at a glance. Munich.