Charging Strategies for Battery Electric Trucks in Germany

Battery electric trucks (BETs) are a promising option to reduce emissions from heavy-duty vehicles. However, the transition to BETs will cause an additional demand for electricity. Future charging strategies will influence the future peak load as well as the operational and technical feasibility of BETs. We simulated 2410 representative single-day German truck driving profiles with three different charging strategies: (1) as slow as possible, (2) as fast as possible, and (3) slowly at depots and as fast as possible at public locations. Assuming a 33% electrification rate by 2030 and near-complete fleet conversion by 2045, we scaled our results to the German truck fleet. We found that charging as fast as possible leads to additional peak loads up to 6 GW in 2030 and 18 GW in 2045, while the other charging strategies reduce additional peak loads to 3 GW in 2030 and 8 GW in 2045. Therefore, implementing wise charging strategies will reduce future peak load.