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MarmonRzohr t1_ixpnjgn wrote

Reply to comment by PR7ME in Renault's heavy electric trucks are now available to order by darth_nadoma

There is a pretty good video by Engineering Explained where he does a reality check on the Tesla Semi - the principles apply to any electric truck:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv44W7xa4IU

Essentially the running cost advantage is likely going to be very significant. How large depends on the prices of industrial electricity.

Renault's battery capacities and range estimates are much more conservative than Tesla's claimed specs, but the advantage of electric on the "short" distances Renault is targeting is very clear.

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PR7ME t1_ixps7rh wrote

Yes. I've seen the video. One thing that isn't factored in is everyday use, charging infrastructure is expansive, that's completely discounted in the video.

Renault is a European brand, which predominantly operates in Europe, and right now, we've got the highest electricity prices in the world.

The video might be more true for the US, but it doesn't factor European prices right now.

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MarmonRzohr t1_ixpuqmq wrote

>charging infrastructure is expensive

That does change the ROI time frames vs. buying just the trucks, but anyone buying electric trucks at this time is going to be buying both anyway. Charging infrastructure also pays out really fast given the upkeep cost is close to zero.

>but it doesn't factor European prices right now

Even with electricity prices which are higher the math works out. Prices in 2022 have been between 20% and 200% higher than the price quoted in the video (except Finland, which has lower prices in the 2022 Eurostat figures), and even with that kind of increase there are still very sizeable savings. And that is without calculating the difference in fuel cost.

For example, right now, in France the cost of diesel is 7.435 $/gallon(US) which is 77% higher than the diesel price used by EE.

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