TE - White Papers

TE CONNECTIVITY INDUSTRIAL & COMMERCIAL TRANSPORTATION /// WHITE PAPER PAGE 2 Electrifying a Movement Addressing the Time to Charge Industrial and Commercial Transportation Vehicles For a business operation, meeting the needs of customers is a given. When that busi- ness is in the transportation sector, those needs can usually be summarized as provid- ing on-time delivery at the lowest cost to the customer. Businesses want to minimize total cost of ownership (TCO) while still meeting customer demands to drive their profitability and operational efficiency. Each one of the concerns illustrated below in Figure 1 is directly related to the chal- lenges that the industrial and commercial transportation (ICT) industry is currently addressing. Each one affects TCO in some way, and each one will eventually be solved. One of these key challenges facing the industry today is the time to charge a battery electric vehicle (BEV). There are many commercial applications where time to charge is not the biggest concern. City buses, for example, can adopt full electric propulsion architectures very quickly. Cities across the US and Europe are introducing electric buses for municipal applications. But China has focused on bus fleet application in a big way. Of the roughly 425,000 electric buses globally on the road today, China has over 400,000 of them. These buses run well-defined routes and have dedicated recharging stations in their parking garages. School buses are another candidate for BEV quick adop- tion. They are used a small percentage of the day and travel well-defined routes. Local (last mile) deliveries from postal services or package services like DHL, Yamato Transport, UPS, Zhongtong, and Amazon are also in a position to quickly adopt BEVs. For other commercial applications, the move to BEV propul- sion is not so straightforward. For a long-haul transportation business moving products, people, or produce, a delay of hours to recharge a truck or bus is simply unacceptable. Goods need to arrive at their intended location quickly and on-time. Travelers booking passage on a cross-country motor coach cannot be expected to stop every few hours and then wait a few more hours to charge the bus. Time to charge must at least be on par with diesel refueling. As US statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin once said, time is money. Long charging delays lead to fewer custom- ers, less throughput, and lower revenues. VEHICLE ELECTRIFICATION CLEANER. Reduced/zero tailpipe emissions. Noise reduction/quiet operation. GREENER. CO 2 methane, and other greenhouse gas reduction. Fossil fuel consumption reduction. Wind and solar generating the electricity. LEANER. Total cost reduction (over time). Vehicle and battery costs are rapidly decreasing. Lower maintenance costs. No oil changes. Fewer moving parts means reduced wear and tear. In the short-term, incentives are available. MEANER. Improved performance and comfort. Instant torque available. Low center of gravity for improved ride and handling. Regenerative braking. Quiet operation. Low vibration. Direct drive – no gears to shift. RANGE ANXIETY AND POWER ACCESS. Concern over access to fast, reliable and available charging points. Is the energy grid globally ready to handle all the anticipated demand? Can vehicles be easily upgraded to handle more power as battery technology improves? BATTERY LIFE AND SUSTAINABILITY. Although technology is advancing rapidly, how long will batteries last and what do we do with them after their useful life? ELECTRICITY CAN BE DANGEROUS. Concerns over shock/electrocution. In an accident, am I safe? Is it safe to charge the vehicle in the rain or if the cable is wet? UPFRONT COSTS. Even if the lifetime cost of electrification proves to be less expensive to operate, the cost of entry may prove to be higher than status quo. PROS CONCERNS Figure 1: Vehicle Electrification – Pros and Concerns

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