This channel should be mandatory viewing for anyone in the EV truck industry; charge point operators, owner/operators and of course the OEMs. It’s filled with insights, very fair and balanced commentary showing/explaining the good and bad.
@@Travlinmo We are taking notes, very much like the cameras safety at night is paramount, theft of cords is evidence with camera as deterrent. Charge park lot layout is priority to these guys and gals. Further more, as markgarnett3521 has stated, anyone in this emerging field sector must pay attention to this ambassador who is spearheading the industry- thank-you Tobias for taking the initiative to get and relay the tips!
when you put the cable back into the charger, it should make contact, and the charger should be able to do diagnostics on the cable... identify failed water cooling, etc...
Yes. Teslas chargers does that And they get fixed if theres an issue Uptime of 99,7% is insanely good Best thing is; they Are way cheaper than other brands.. so Tesla will solve the charging issue starting at semi intoduction
Absolutely. For one, when a charger doesn't charge vehicles when the ones around it do, that should be a red flag. The camera is also a big plus, if somebody pulls up, and can't charge.
I agree. I give the guy a ton of credit for showing the feasibility of this technology. While it is possible, I think this also shows the infrastructure is no where near prime time. Plus it seems the whole day is planned around charging which does not come with current diesel offerings. If there are more ev trucks coming, the infastructure doesn’t seem able to keep up yet. But I give this guy a ton of credit for showing us his struggles and successes with EV.
Thanks very much for the english version of your channel. I'm in New Zealand and I am not a truck driver but I enjoy watching your channel and seeing the electric progression. I did think hydrogen my be the preferred fuel for trucks but it seems that battery electric is the preferred way and with your compulsory stops running electric is no inconvenience. I'm also pleased to see the German govt subsidising the price difference to get more companies to buy electric.
Hydrogen would be fine if 98% of it wasn't made by reforming methane (with the carbon dioxide being released to atmosphere), with this being the case its a bit pointless to use Hydrogen from what i've read it takes 5x the energy to make Hydrogen compared to using the electricity direct !
@@martinhammett8121 Exactly right, the cost of hydrogen will never come close to just using the energy to charge the battery in the first place. And the rapid progress being made with batteries, chargers and motors. Hydrogen is just going to get left even further behind.
The thing is that professional truck drivers aren't allowed to drive for more than 4:30 hours. So there is a mandatory break of at least 45 minutes a truck has to take every 4:30 hours. Even Diesel truckers have to rest... meanwhile electric truckers can charge and rest at the same time. Also there is a maximum driving time for professional truck drivers that is 9 hours per day and on 2 days a weak they could do 10hours. 11hours of rest after each "full shift" are mandatory...so there are plenty of mandatory rest times and breaks for all truck drivers and this allows for electric trucks to charge. That is the reason why electric trucks are actually surprisingly competitive in the EU. There are off course edge cases where an electric truck just sucks. Like if you want to carry loads that would make the E-truck exceed it's legal wheight, because E-trucks are way heaviery thanks to the batteries. Yet thanks to smart battery pack distribution the e-trucks often stay competitive as with many heavy loads the problem isn't the wheight of the whole system but the wheight on individual axles and Manufacturers have moved some batteries from the back part of the truck to the front , as the frontal axes never carries any comercial load...and has more load carrying capacity left. Then if you have more than one driver per truck, a Diesel truck is just better. Most trucks in Europe aren't built like a little studio appartment like American trucks, so it's kinda rare to have two truckers or a maried couple share a truck. That's just not very common.
@BrentMcCracken; Have a look at "Edison Motors" A 🇨🇦 company making heavy haul diesel electric hybrids, now using Scania motors, and separate electric motors per rear axle... I'm not sure about battery capacity, but they seem to be having good success with drivability and hauling capacity... BC is like NZ in places, not very flat, one might say 😂
I'm surprised to see how much the German government is subsidizing electricity prices. The 48 ct/kWh price he had to pay at Venlo, Netherlands is the true market price, also for Germany. That 48 cents is also with big party purchasing advantage like what Tesla does at their Superchargers, otherwise the price would be like Fastned's 70 cent/kWh. Since the grids are so interconnected and the energy mixed doesn't differ too much the German government is subsidizing at least 15ct/kWh and they even want to ramp that up to like >40 ct/kWh if they give electric trucks industry electric price. How is Germany able to afford that long-term? Especially not with a collapsing automotive industry! The Dutch charge square looks gold-standard though compared to the Aral Pulse truch chargers. I'm surprised to see we're able to even provide cool trailer plugs. Since we're having a gridlocked electricity grid I was expecting things to be more bare minimum. Instead I see that battery pack to be the bare minimum to help balance the grid. You see, we had an environmental lobby club called Milieu Centraal who actively lobbied against home batteries and these kind of local battery storage system, because resource mining is bad for the environment and they just wanted everyone to reduce energy consumption. Meanwhile, the energy grid companies had a lobby in which they promised to build the battery storage in the energy grid. They failed to deliver due to a lack of labor and too slow permit processes. So it's only like a year or so (at max) the private battery storage revolution has started in the Netherlands.
I really enjoy watching your channel. I’m a truck driver in the US and find your content fascinating. My personal pickup truck is a Ford F150 Lightning. I’ve had it about 6 months and love it! I can’t imagine driving a gas truck again. I would love to drive an electric semi truck but unfortunately we just don’t have many options here and definitely not the infrastructure to charge semi trucks yet.
Next time you stop. Could you speak with some of the other truckers on what their companies are doing with regards BEV trucks? I noted Chiggiato trucks in the background and looked them up. They are using refrigerators so that adds a level of complexity. It would be interesting to get their take on trucks. Great show as usual.
". I work at the assembly factory of volvo in ghent. ": Tell your boss there that Volvo should put 10 or more USB ports in the truck. Only 1 port is ridiculous.
Thank you for your real life experiences on e-trucks. The whole EV-industry need unfiltered information on how charging links to daily driving of professionals who come from the ICE- world.
I am currently in Netherlands. Would love to meet you somewhere. This much of information about electric trucks is always welcome. Best channel amongst all.
Love how honest you are about everything!!! So, you'll probably get in political trouble at some point ;) That's TOO FUNNY! All that battery density under your feet and you can't get a few milliamps for your phone!
I always have a power bank with me when I get in the truck. It happened to have a problem with the electrics on a lorry and had no way to charge my phone. I learned my lesson.
Another great video. Re your USB problem, I am constantly driving long distances, but electric cars rather than electric trucks, but I always carry a power bank. It's very useful if you get caught out and you don't have to be in your vehicle either.
It is nice to see that even a smaller battery truck can do longer distances. If there are enough chargers. Nice to see a comparison between the 2 vehicles. In the US there needs to be a lot more done to make charging stations workable for Semi's. I look forward to what i learn from you next week
I doubt long haul EV trucking will happen in the USA any time soon. There is way too much variability in pickup and drop-off locations.. and as a result very random routes people take. BUT... over 70% of trucking is short haul.. under 500 miles. That probably will happen... especially trucking that starts and ends at a company depot.. Like the Pepsi Tesla Semis.. perfect for that use. Also.. if a company has regular routes.. even long haul.. they could install chargers along that route to make it work.
Thanks for your work on the channel. I very much enjoy your content each week. At about 16:34 you mention Type 2 43kW charging using 63A cables, and whether they were available. The original 22kW Renault ZOE could charge at 43kW, so you could get a cable from one of those for use with the truck. They are out there. Renault probably expected high power charging to remain AC, assuming that batteries would be small indefinitely. As it happens, DC rapid charging quickly appeared and high power AC charging was largely superseded, at least for cars.
AFAIK most, if not all 43 kW Type 2 EVSE were equipped with tethered cables instead of using driver supplied cables. Like the Electric Trucker, I never saw a 43 kW Type 2 outlet, requiring a driver supplied cable, before. However the existence of this EVSE suggests 63 A cables must be available somewhere.
I was once on hold for 35 minutes to report a problem. Gave up since no one picked up the phone. Never doing that again. There should be a 30 second wait time, and if I'm the first to report an issue, I should be paid money for the tip.
@@hughwilson2219 It's possible. I've reported an issue on a 22kW charge point in the operator's app/website by making a public comment and was contacted the day after to get more details.
I drove an electric rigid 27t Merc Econic for 16 months prior to 2025 and although it was super basic inside I honestly thought it was good fun for local work. Being relatively new it came with its problems. Infrastructure for commercial vehicles in Britain has some catching up to do. Lucky for me, I never had to charge throughout the day. I was only allocated work that could be done within the range of the available battery power. I would definitely drive them in future due to the novel factor. It still makes sense to carry a portable USB charge pack for phones and satnavs and all the bits and pieces you'd normally need. Maybe even a battery scooter or collapsible bike if you have the space.
Always love your videos, almost like the Bjorn of Big Rigs. I'm not a truck driver myself but find it fascinating and very glad you do these videos. Love to see you drive a truck that has the MCS charging standard on board at some point as well and to test a MCS charger just in comparison to CCS.
Prices in Europe are so low compared to the UK, my local fast charger is £0.85 / kWh €1.01... We don't have electric trucks yet where I work but I do drive a 2020 Kona EV.
Wow, that is insane, and people still believe EV are going to be cheaper. In Germany, the petrol price per litre is around 0.60€ before tax (and it only costs 0.006€ to produce that litre, --- yes half a cent!). That is 0.06€ per kWh, or 0.15€ per kWh with 40% efficiency. That means EV is never going to be cheaper than ICE unless your electricity costs less than 0.15€.
@@nameberry220 The issue isn't the cost of electric power itself or from the grid, but what it costs at the charger. There no real regulation on those chargers to set a limit and not much competition, so the market doesn't function properly.
@@damianm-nordhorn116 UK issue is all the expansion of chargers is funded by investment groups. Who all want a fast return on their investment. So that is keeping prices high. Even Tesla have started to rise some of their prices at sites with more competition..
Funny story about the Volvo wiring in your electric truck also in Volvos construction equipment they use thinner wire also to save money. That’s pretty sad cutting corners.
This is a lot of work. I know there is planning in professional driving, but this is too much. Constantly thinking about charging stations, capabilities of the truck, of the charging station and dealing with non working stations, apps and stuff 🤯. When do you drive and rest. I don't know if there is any difference in price at the end, but you should get it for the amount of work you have to do in order to reach your destination. It's like driving is the easier thing when compared to charging. Keep it up.
Spoke two days ago with a trucker about electric, he was neutral about it, but had nothing knowledge. Companies need to train electric driving and technics to their truckers.
I live in UK. I work at a company with 4 distributions centers all over UK. At our DC work around 50 drives, there are only two drivers that have EVs, me and another one. The transport manager asked us to write a report for the company, describe our experience with the EVs and write anything we know about electric lorries. I think company wants to try electric trucks and wants to know if there are drivers that know how to use them.
Great video.. love how you share your experiences.. good and bad. Love the Volvo... I drove a VNL for a couple years... Air ride on the steer axle.. had a Super 10 transmission.. Great turning radius, quite too. They know how to make a truck nice for the driver.
G'day, I'm enjoying your videos from down here in Australia. I was just comparing charging prices and you seem to be paying about 0.88AUD/kwh and the typical retail charge rate I've seen here is about 0.67AUD. My electric adventure is about to begin with a Mitsubishi Outlander Exceed PHEV. It will do our daily 65km commute for about $2.30 on our domestic rates (0.27/kwh) or $0 on our 10kw solar/battery combo at home so a big saving over the petrol Mercedes. Australia is a long way behind Europe in regard to availability of charging stations so a hybrid is still best for our use. Sicheres Fahren Mate!
I drove my Kia Niro EV from Ballarat Vic to Maryborough Qld and back over Xmas/NY via the Newell Highway. Relatively easy journey. The chargers along the way are mostly 50kw chargers. I found a 60kw charger in Forbes and a 150kw charger in Toowoomba, but my car maxes out at 84kw. 50kw is too slow. 84kw is great. Total cost of the round trip (about 3700km+) was AU $309. Prices varied from $0.55/kwh on Chargefox to $0.77/kwh on Tesla. Last time I did that in a Forester, I think I paid $550 in fuel.
Compared to US roads, the trade is for shoulder space. It looks like vehicles that break down must pull all the way off the road. In practice, I wonder if they actually do, or if more commonly the rear of the vehicle stays poking out into the road. That's a separate danger of this road configuration.
6:09 These are intelligent equipment. Its a simple 5 day project to pull logs, correlated errors and at minimum generate say an sms or email to support to do necessary step to bring them online. I work in banking and for one of the banks I was working with, had developed a simple script that read logs of all ATMs every one hour. Generated a list of ATMs with error code. Off all the error code 5 were where the ATM had to be remote rebooted. My second script would pick a file with ATMs references of these 5 error code and perform the remove reboot. This would bring 80% of the down ATMs online within an hour. The two scripts took me 4 hours to write, 20 hrs test and 10 hrs production release test support. Basically for me it was done in 4 hrs, the test team took care of the rest. This can be done with these large EV chargers.
Interesting that you're quoting €0.39c/kwh in Germany. I was there in November, hired an electric car, and was paying 50c or more (69+ at the major service station fast chargers). As an Aussie I could not install apps (they were blocked!) so had to scan the QR and pay ad-hoc prices. 39c would've been a great saving.
You need to get yourself a few hefty battery power banks with a few USB and other charging ports on them to keep driver's battery devices backed up and a few LED flashlights with USB charging ports too. Suggest to your management to toss them into all your company's EV trucks for those occasional sad rainy days. Maybe get some business cards promoting/identifying your UA-cam channel and hand them out to those people who give you a good turn to help encourage their extra fine behaviors.
As you say, it can be easier for resolving problems with chargers. Adding a reset button on the unit and automating running diagnostics every night or when no-one is using the unit would resolve most issues I'd think.
Yeah Venlo! Whatever I need to go to Germany I go through there. To be honest I do not know if energy is cheaper in the Netherlands, but for sure everything is more expensive in the Netherlands. At least the quality is good.
EVs do slow you down. 45 minutes. Here in America. I saw it today. A hybrid semi truck that will be rolling out. The engine is to charge the batteries. See how this one goes. Americans paid billions in taxes for charging stations, and after they spent the money, we only got a handful of them. Less than 1% on what they money was supposed to go for. No one knows where all of the money went. They are not saying. I really enjoy watching your videos and gaining knowledge. Thanks.
about the 1 USB port problem, doesn't it have 12V socket as well somewhere? If it does, you could buy a splitter with 2 or 3 USB ports and use ut this way.
Here in Czechia, charge station operator PRE (Pražská energetika) accepts tickets over email. I wrote them twice and both times they responded within a day. Once they restarted the station remotely, once they dispatched an engineer to fix it onsite.
Usually, you can report an issue on the CPO's app, but my experience of doing this...at least with the main CPO in Ireland is that they always reply saying something along the lines of "the problem was with your car"
To me, it seems like the problem is no longer the batteries but the chargers. I wonder if wireless charging also have the same issue with "internal wiring getting hot" since the charging wires are closer to board compared to normal wired charge
Unusually positive attitude towards a major problem. The issue with EV trucks malfunctioning is that you need a fairly advanced technician, whereas most mechanics can service a diesel truck.
This gent shows what the honest person should know already. EV class 8 trucks do have their place in short, and mid range hauling. However they are not ready to take on the NYC to LA or longer hauls done by drivers every week in the US. Infrastructure aside the NYC to LA run is 2600 miles each way, and for a 2 driver team can be done in under 4 days in a diesel truck. It would take a fair bit longer due to stopping more often to charge an EV. One day the tech will be there, but not this day.
Well, that NYC to LA thing should be handled by trains instead of trucks anyway. But your corrupt system has done/is doing everything to stop progress to maximize profits… ua-cam.com/video/AJ2keSJzYyY/v-deo.html
This only seems like its working due to how few EV trucks and cars there are. If these things were so good, we wouldn't have governments trying to force adoption. A feel bad for the future if this keeps up. The electric bills are going to be so high.
Could be worth having a power bank for your phone. Keep it fully charged, and use in emergency situations eg when the usb is broken 😉 A good one will charge the phone 3-4 times.
Here in canada we can legally drive 13 hours a day. Its cold here in winter -40 and there os no chargers. Even fuel stops can b3 500km + in between. Eletric trucks dont work here. Long live diesel trucks! ❤
@@stevehorner8302 I mean that seriously. 300 kw is no small feat. A standard household cable can transport perhaps 10 kW. If 30 trucks charge at the same time, that's 9 MW. That's 10% of the electrical output of a small coal-fired power plant.
Interesting video, but I can only imagine, with more EV cars and trucks are queued for the chargers the frustration that will occur. Not to mention the drain on the grid of the country you are in. Reminder- don't let your phone go flat, otherwise no apps. That is a crazy way to run life - a complete hostage to a mobile phone.
Good morning my German 🇩🇪 friend from my diesel DAF lol 😂 I really enjoy your videos 👍🏻 At least you’re showing the doubters that electric trucks can work 🤩 Keep the good work up buddy cheers Stevie 🏴
USB issue... sadly the 12volt plug is quite nice and adaptable. I always carry a 20,000 pack with me that can charge and do pass-through for 4 items. That Venlo setup is nice. Wonder what the price difference is with the better internal wiring?
I would like to get your opinion on diesel-electric trucks like the ones Edison Motors making in Canada. To me, it makes the most sense. You don't have to rely on infrastructure that may or may not be working but you still get a fully electric drive train?
Instead of a website, simply have a button on the charger to report an issue. Maybe the charger could do a self-test / reset automatically at the same time.
I look forward to receiving my new Volvo Electric truck at work soon, we are just waiting for the electrician to come by and install the charger for it
All I heard him talk about was everything revolving charging. Is he driving the truck or the truck driving him? Also these appear to be very short runs then back to a base. How would it handle it if he had to do 1500 to 2000km?
How much could Volvo have saved om the internat wireing. I think many would have paid the extra cost if Volvo offered the quicker charging. I think for many vehicles that a quick charge is even more important on those with smaller batteries. Yet the industry offers slow charging on those vehicles. I think they want to sell the more expensive vehicles as they make more money. But that is less sustainable as more resources are tied up in each vehicle. For trucks that does not matter really as they are used so much of the time but for cars that often stand still more than 90% of all time it makes a big difference.
I think Volvo did slower charging not just because of cost but for reliability too. It costs charge speed, but if you do not have cable cooling, cable cooling cant break! :D This is engineering dilemma about adding stuff on top of stuff: your stuff breaks more often! To not break so often costs can be astronomical so simpler is better in lots of cases. They probably met with some weight, dimensional, or financial walls to implement that internal cabling for the truck and jus derated the current down. :) it wasnt probably in design plans at first
24:00 Volvo could petition and invest, to build that overhead charging on busy routes. I am really rooting for that one. Reduce battery capacity is very important to manage cost of the over all truck unit.
9:05 grrr … phones need to come with swappable batteries so that it isn’t such a pain to either always be charging or replace when the battery gets old.
So trucks don't have 12v accessory port? I have not experience with Trucks hence the question. But would assume if they have, a 12v accessory adapter is hardly a dollar.
Yes that one. Online its a dollar. But yes that is a good buy. I never load any system USB for charging on my car, why to move that power through a digital equipment. 12v accessory is right option to charge devices.
If you want your smartphone battery (same applies to all small electronics including laptops) to not loose its capacity approach it like an EV battery (the early EV NMC that wasn't really specialized for EV use) - don't charge it above 85% and don't discharge below 15% unless you absolutely have to and avoid fast charging as much as possible. The worst thing you can do to a battery longevity is to charge it to 100% and keep charging it still even after it's already fully charged. Some devices, like the work laptop from DELL I have have a tool that allows you to set a % charging limit, where upon reaching it, the device is powered by the charger and the battery is idle (neither charging nor discharging) until you unplug the charger. IMHO this SW should be mandatory (just like the USB-C charging port) for any device that includes a battery, which suffers from such degradation and already has a user interface with display and buttons/touch controls (e.g. all smartphones, laptops, smart toothbrushes, vapes). Since you're spending a lot of time sitting in a truck, the truck's USB port will charge your phone nice and slowly, I'd just suggest for you to disconnect it from the charger when you see it charged above 80%. I work in IT, so there's always a free USB port I can plug into that doesn't offer any fast charging standard (any smartphone should be able to charge with the most basic USB spec of 5 V & 500 mA) and doing this I can easily make my smartphone last over 4 years without noticing any battery degradation. The majority of people would be happy with still using their old smartphone if its battery wasn't seriously degraded for these exact reasons, though many also care for the security updates that your smartphone stops getting after a couple years...
Hi, sorry I maybe missed it in the video, but what happened to Iveco by the end of the day? Was it battery / BMS problem, or e-axle? I see on your German channel you’re still driving Iveco, not Volvo. I don’t quite understand your timeline 😅
Given the HIGHWAY ROBBERY price paid for electricity, the extra time spent charging, the inconvenience of finding working chargers, and the reduced cargo weight, EV trucks look to be a non-starter.
I ve been telling ppl as an electrician,before buying any electric machine or car,please do a deep study in how electricity works,in this case just imagine how much lithium needs the battery to move a load,lets say 20 tons,incluiding the weight of their own. The hevier the load,the hotter the battery and the fastest the charge,the fastest the battery lifespan will deteriorate.
This channel should be mandatory viewing for anyone in the EV truck industry; charge point operators, owner/operators and of course the OEMs. It’s filled with insights, very fair and balanced commentary showing/explaining the good and bad.
I really hope someone is watching from truck and charging companies.
@@Travlinmo We are taking notes, very much like the cameras safety at night is paramount, theft of cords is evidence with camera as deterrent. Charge park lot layout is priority to these guys and gals. Further more, as markgarnett3521 has stated, anyone in this emerging field sector must pay attention to this ambassador who is spearheading the industry- thank-you Tobias for taking the initiative to get and relay the tips!
ya mandatory as like look this fool and don't be like him
@@LyuboA Christ! At least the English the channel uses makes sense!
Electric motors need to be rated as explosion proof for use in classified areas such as grain elevators.
Are any trucks rated as explosion proof?
Chargers should be able to perform a self test and report themselves automatically or even reboot themselves when an issue is discovered.
They probably do, but bugs still happen.
when you put the cable back into the charger, it should make contact, and the charger should be able to do diagnostics on the cable... identify failed water cooling, etc...
Yes. Teslas chargers does that
And they get fixed if theres an issue
Uptime of 99,7% is insanely good
Best thing is; they Are way cheaper than other brands.. so Tesla will solve the charging issue starting at semi intoduction
This is a fantastic idea!
Absolutely. For one, when a charger doesn't charge vehicles when the ones around it do, that should be a red flag. The camera is also a big plus, if somebody pulls up, and can't charge.
I agree. I give the guy a ton of credit for showing the feasibility of this technology. While it is possible, I think this also shows the infrastructure is no where near prime time. Plus it seems the whole day is planned around charging which does not come with current diesel offerings. If there are more ev trucks coming, the infastructure doesn’t seem able to keep up yet.
But I give this guy a ton of credit for showing us his struggles and successes with EV.
It's always a pleasure to watch your videos. You have a fantastic attitude to life's challenges. Thank you.
Thanks very much for the english version of your channel. I'm in New Zealand and I am not a truck driver but I enjoy watching your channel and seeing the electric progression. I did think hydrogen my be the preferred fuel for trucks but it seems that battery electric is the preferred way and with your compulsory stops running electric is no inconvenience. I'm also pleased to see the German govt subsidising the price difference to get more companies to buy electric.
Hydrogen would be fine if 98% of it wasn't made by reforming methane (with the carbon dioxide being released to atmosphere), with this being the case its a bit pointless to use Hydrogen from what i've read it takes 5x the energy to make Hydrogen compared to using the electricity direct !
@@martinhammett8121 Exactly right, the cost of hydrogen will never come close to just using the energy to charge the battery in the first place. And the rapid progress being made with batteries, chargers and motors. Hydrogen is just going to get left even further behind.
The thing is that professional truck drivers aren't allowed to drive for more than 4:30 hours. So there is a mandatory break of at least 45 minutes a truck has to take every 4:30 hours. Even Diesel truckers have to rest... meanwhile electric truckers can charge and rest at the same time. Also there is a maximum driving time for professional truck drivers that is 9 hours per day and on 2 days a weak they could do 10hours. 11hours of rest after each "full shift" are mandatory...so there are plenty of mandatory rest times and breaks for all truck drivers and this allows for electric trucks to charge. That is the reason why electric trucks are actually surprisingly competitive in the EU. There are off course edge cases where an electric truck just sucks. Like if you want to carry loads that would make the E-truck exceed it's legal wheight, because E-trucks are way heaviery thanks to the batteries. Yet thanks to smart battery pack distribution the e-trucks often stay competitive as with many heavy loads the problem isn't the wheight of the whole system but the wheight on individual axles and Manufacturers have moved some batteries from the back part of the truck to the front , as the frontal axes never carries any comercial load...and has more load carrying capacity left.
Then if you have more than one driver per truck, a Diesel truck is just better.
Most trucks in Europe aren't built like a little studio appartment like American trucks, so it's kinda rare to have two truckers or a maried couple share a truck. That's just not very common.
@BrentMcCracken;
Have a look at
"Edison Motors"
A 🇨🇦 company making heavy haul diesel electric hybrids, now using Scania motors, and separate electric motors per rear axle... I'm not sure about battery capacity, but they seem to be having good success with drivability and hauling capacity... BC is like NZ in places, not very flat, one might say 😂
I'm surprised to see how much the German government is subsidizing electricity prices. The 48 ct/kWh price he had to pay at Venlo, Netherlands is the true market price, also for Germany. That 48 cents is also with big party purchasing advantage like what Tesla does at their Superchargers, otherwise the price would be like Fastned's 70 cent/kWh. Since the grids are so interconnected and the energy mixed doesn't differ too much the German government is subsidizing at least 15ct/kWh and they even want to ramp that up to like >40 ct/kWh if they give electric trucks industry electric price. How is Germany able to afford that long-term? Especially not with a collapsing automotive industry!
The Dutch charge square looks gold-standard though compared to the Aral Pulse truch chargers. I'm surprised to see we're able to even provide cool trailer plugs. Since we're having a gridlocked electricity grid I was expecting things to be more bare minimum. Instead I see that battery pack to be the bare minimum to help balance the grid. You see, we had an environmental lobby club called Milieu Centraal who actively lobbied against home batteries and these kind of local battery storage system, because resource mining is bad for the environment and they just wanted everyone to reduce energy consumption. Meanwhile, the energy grid companies had a lobby in which they promised to build the battery storage in the energy grid. They failed to deliver due to a lack of labor and too slow permit processes. So it's only like a year or so (at max) the private battery storage revolution has started in the Netherlands.
I really enjoy watching your channel. I’m a truck driver in the US and find your content fascinating. My personal pickup truck is a Ford F150 Lightning. I’ve had it about 6 months and love it! I can’t imagine driving a gas truck again. I would love to drive an electric semi truck but unfortunately we just don’t have many options here and definitely not the infrastructure to charge semi trucks yet.
It is crazy how little energy this big trucks use, about
1kWh/km 😎 👍
Best whishes from Sweden.
You have such a positive attitude its is infectious, thank you.
Yeah, 100% the perfect early adopter, clear feedback without throwing his toys out of the pram or sulking.
Would be very interesting to know what was wrong with the Iveco, don’t leave us hanging 😂
The clue is in the maker's name.
@ if you are like this I feel sympathy for the people who have to deal with you on a daily basis
Thanks for your experience reports. You are a great ambassador for Germany and all EV enthusiasts.
@@mikeprzyrembel It truly has shown itself to be a pile of crap all the way through
It's an Iveco.... There's your problem.
Next time you stop. Could you speak with some of the other truckers on what their companies are doing with regards BEV trucks? I noted Chiggiato trucks in the background and looked them up. They are using refrigerators so that adds a level of complexity. It would be interesting to get their take on trucks. Great show as usual.
Love your video’s. I work at the assembly factory of volvo in ghent. Interesting to see the volvo in the wild!
". I work at the assembly factory of volvo in ghent. ": Tell your boss there that Volvo should put 10 or more USB ports in the truck. Only 1 port is ridiculous.
Very good point about better reporting for downed chargers! We have the same problem in Washington State!
Thank you for your real life experiences on e-trucks. The whole EV-industry need unfiltered information on how charging links to daily driving of professionals who come from the ICE- world.
I am currently in Netherlands. Would love to meet you somewhere. This much of information about electric trucks is always welcome. Best channel amongst all.
Love how honest you are about everything!!! So, you'll probably get in political trouble at some point ;) That's TOO FUNNY! All that battery density under your feet and you can't get a few milliamps for your phone!
I always have a power bank with me when I get in the truck. It happened to have a problem with the electrics on a lorry and had no way to charge my phone. I learned my lesson.
The most problematic part of most EV’s is the 12V controller battery (usually a lead acid battery)…
Another great video. Re your USB problem, I am constantly driving long distances, but electric cars rather than electric trucks, but I always carry a power bank. It's very useful if you get caught out and you don't have to be in your vehicle either.
It is nice to see that even a smaller battery truck can do longer distances. If there are enough chargers. Nice to see a comparison between the 2 vehicles. In the US there needs to be a lot more done to make charging stations workable for Semi's. I look forward to what i learn from you next week
I doubt long haul EV trucking will happen in the USA any time soon. There is way too much variability in pickup and drop-off locations.. and as a result very random routes people take. BUT... over 70% of trucking is short haul.. under 500 miles. That probably will happen... especially trucking that starts and ends at a company depot.. Like the Pepsi Tesla Semis.. perfect for that use.
Also.. if a company has regular routes.. even long haul.. they could install chargers along that route to make it work.
Thanks for your work on the channel. I very much enjoy your content each week.
At about 16:34 you mention Type 2 43kW charging using 63A cables, and whether they were available. The original 22kW Renault ZOE could charge at 43kW, so you could get a cable from one of those for use with the truck. They are out there.
Renault probably expected high power charging to remain AC, assuming that batteries would be small indefinitely. As it happens, DC rapid charging quickly appeared and high power AC charging was largely superseded, at least for cars.
AFAIK most, if not all 43 kW Type 2 EVSE were equipped with tethered cables instead of using driver supplied cables. Like the Electric Trucker, I never saw a 43 kW Type 2 outlet, requiring a driver supplied cable, before. However the existence of this EVSE suggests 63 A cables must be available somewhere.
@georgepelton5645 Ah, that's a good point. Yes, sorry
Such insight, I wish more people understood that scientific research is all about continual refinement.
I was once on hold for 35 minutes to report a problem. Gave up since no one picked up the phone. Never doing that again.
There should be a 30 second wait time, and if I'm the first to report an issue, I should be paid money for the tip.
using the phone to talk to someone is a bit old hat. What about a reporting app?
@@hughwilson2219 It's possible. I've reported an issue on a 22kW charge point in the operator's app/website by making a public comment and was contacted the day after to get more details.
@@hughwilson2219 Ah so you can feel you've reported something but no one has actually read the report?
the fug out of here with your stupid apps
Hey, I know the last charging station! I've been using it on our way through Germany from Switzerland :) Finally a place I recognize :)
I drove an electric rigid 27t Merc Econic for 16 months prior to 2025 and although it was super basic inside I honestly thought it was good fun for local work. Being relatively new it came with its problems.
Infrastructure for commercial vehicles in Britain has some catching up to do. Lucky for me, I never had to charge throughout the day. I was only allocated work that could be done within the range of the available battery power.
I would definitely drive them in future due to the novel factor. It still makes sense to carry a portable USB charge pack for phones and satnavs and all the bits and pieces you'd normally need. Maybe even a battery scooter or collapsible bike if you have the space.
Always love your videos, almost like the Bjorn of Big Rigs. I'm not a truck driver myself but find it fascinating and very glad you do these videos. Love to see you drive a truck that has the MCS charging standard on board at some point as well and to test a MCS charger just in comparison to CCS.
Prices in Europe are so low compared to the UK, my local fast charger is £0.85 / kWh €1.01... We don't have electric trucks yet where I work but I do drive a 2020 Kona EV.
Wow, that is insane, and people still believe EV are going to be cheaper. In Germany, the petrol price per litre is around 0.60€ before tax (and it only costs 0.006€ to produce that litre, --- yes half a cent!). That is 0.06€ per kWh, or 0.15€ per kWh with 40% efficiency. That means EV is never going to be cheaper than ICE unless your electricity costs less than 0.15€.
Petrol price in Germany tonight: €1.76/litre so.
@nameberry220 but all oil have to be imported, and electricity is mostly produced on site.
@@nameberry220
The issue isn't the cost of electric power itself or from the grid, but what it costs at the charger.
There no real regulation on those chargers to set a limit and not much competition, so the market doesn't function properly.
@@damianm-nordhorn116 UK issue is all the expansion of chargers is funded by investment groups. Who all want a fast return on their investment. So that is keeping prices high. Even Tesla have started to rise some of their prices at sites with more competition..
Maybe Battery imbalance on 1 of the packs > 3%?
I love your videos. I am getting an EV Mack 26ft box truck next week. First in Florida, USA.
Trump disapproves
Funny story about the Volvo wiring in your electric truck also in Volvos construction equipment they use thinner wire also to save money. That’s pretty sad cutting corners.
This is a lot of work. I know there is planning in professional driving, but this is too much.
Constantly thinking about charging stations, capabilities of the truck, of the charging station and dealing with non working stations, apps and stuff 🤯. When do you drive and rest.
I don't know if there is any difference in price at the end, but you should get it for the amount of work you have to do in order to reach your destination. It's like driving is the easier thing when compared to charging.
Keep it up.
Spoke two days ago with a trucker about electric, he was neutral about it, but had nothing knowledge. Companies need to train electric driving and technics to their truckers.
I live in UK. I work at a company with 4 distributions centers all over UK. At our DC work around 50 drives, there are only two drivers that have EVs, me and another one. The transport manager asked us to write a report for the company, describe our experience with the EVs and write anything we know about electric lorries. I think company wants to try electric trucks and wants to know if there are drivers that know how to use them.
Will stick with petroleum so many problems to sort out maybe in a few decades when fixed
But glad you are enjoying your experiences with it .
Great video.. love how you share your experiences.. good and bad.
Love the Volvo... I drove a VNL for a couple years... Air ride on the steer axle.. had a Super 10 transmission.. Great turning radius, quite too. They know how to make a truck nice for the driver.
I wish we could still get cabover trucks here in the states. The increased visibility and maneuverability is so nice.
G'day, I'm enjoying your videos from down here in Australia. I was just comparing charging prices and you seem to be paying about 0.88AUD/kwh and the typical retail charge rate I've seen here is about 0.67AUD. My electric adventure is about to begin with a Mitsubishi Outlander Exceed PHEV. It will do our daily 65km commute for about $2.30 on our domestic rates (0.27/kwh) or $0 on our 10kw solar/battery combo at home so a big saving over the petrol Mercedes. Australia is a long way behind Europe in regard to availability of charging stations so a hybrid is still best for our use.
Sicheres Fahren Mate!
Remember that home charging from solar isn't free. It's the cost of the feed-in you're not selling. So maybe 4-5c
I drove my Kia Niro EV from Ballarat Vic to Maryborough Qld and back over Xmas/NY via the Newell Highway. Relatively easy journey. The chargers along the way are mostly 50kw chargers. I found a 60kw charger in Forbes and a 150kw charger in Toowoomba, but my car maxes out at 84kw.
50kw is too slow. 84kw is great.
Total cost of the round trip (about 3700km+) was AU $309. Prices varied from $0.55/kwh on Chargefox to $0.77/kwh on Tesla. Last time I did that in a Forester, I think I paid $550 in fuel.
@@peterhoz3.3c/kwh and soon dropping to nil.
great video!
2:00 I like it that there is space in the middle of so.e Dutch roads...it improves safety
Compared to US roads, the trade is for shoulder space. It looks like vehicles that break down must pull all the way off the road. In practice, I wonder if they actually do, or if more commonly the rear of the vehicle stays poking out into the road. That's a separate danger of this road configuration.
6:09 These are intelligent equipment. Its a simple 5 day project to pull logs, correlated errors and at minimum generate say an sms or email to support to do necessary step to bring them online. I work in banking and for one of the banks I was working with, had developed a simple script that read logs of all ATMs every one hour. Generated a list of ATMs with error code. Off all the error code 5 were where the ATM had to be remote rebooted. My second script would pick a file with ATMs references of these 5 error code and perform the remove reboot. This would bring 80% of the down ATMs online within an hour. The two scripts took me 4 hours to write, 20 hrs test and 10 hrs production release test support. Basically for me it was done in 4 hrs, the test team took care of the rest.
This can be done with these large EV chargers.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Please do not mention to the bosses that it is no problem to do long distance with local distance truck.😁
Interesting that you're quoting €0.39c/kwh in Germany. I was there in November, hired an electric car, and was paying 50c or more (69+ at the major service station fast chargers). As an Aussie I could not install apps (they were blocked!) so had to scan the QR and pay ad-hoc prices. 39c would've been a great saving.
Only with subscription you will pay .39
Tks. You amazing. And took the trouble to understand your equipment.
You need to get yourself a few hefty battery power banks with a few USB and other charging ports on them to keep driver's battery devices backed up and a few LED flashlights with USB charging ports too. Suggest to your management to toss them into all your company's EV trucks for those occasional sad rainy days. Maybe get some business cards promoting/identifying your UA-cam channel and hand them out to those people who give you a good turn to help encourage their extra fine behaviors.
Yeh i carry a power bank with me in my bag so if I ever find my battery low, I can always top it up without needing to find a charger.
nice, its like eurotruck simulator but u dont have to drive yourself. i love it.
Great videos👍You should get yourself a Battery Case for your phone. Many provide 2x battery life or more! Stay safe🖖
As you say, it can be easier for resolving problems with chargers.
Adding a reset button on the unit and automating running diagnostics every night or when no-one is using the unit would resolve most issues I'd think.
Yeah Venlo! Whatever I need to go to Germany I go through there. To be honest I do not know if energy is cheaper in the Netherlands, but for sure everything is more expensive in the Netherlands. At least the quality is good.
EVs do slow you down. 45 minutes. Here in America. I saw it today. A hybrid semi truck that will be rolling out. The engine is to charge the batteries. See how this one goes. Americans paid billions in taxes for charging stations, and after they spent the money, we only got a handful of them. Less than 1% on what they money was supposed to go for. No one knows where all of the money went. They are not saying. I really enjoy watching your videos and gaining knowledge. Thanks.
about the 1 USB port problem, doesn't it have 12V socket as well somewhere? If it does, you could buy a splitter with 2 or 3 USB ports and use ut this way.
ah, crap, I wrote it while watching and just as I sent it you bought one in a shop :D that'll teach me to watch till the end before posting!
Forty-eight cents per kilowatt-hour is crazy.
does the usb port have a separate fuse?
or maybe it can only provide 500mAh which is too low for some phones
Here in Czechia, charge station operator PRE (Pražská energetika) accepts tickets over email. I wrote them twice and both times they responded within a day. Once they restarted the station remotely, once they dispatched an engineer to fix it onsite.
Usually, you can report an issue on the CPO's app, but my experience of doing this...at least with the main CPO in Ireland is that they always reply saying something along the lines of "the problem was with your car"
To me, it seems like the problem is no longer the batteries but the chargers. I wonder if wireless charging also have the same issue with "internal wiring getting hot" since the charging wires are closer to board compared to normal wired charge
Society evolves thanks to brave men’s action .
Unusually positive attitude towards a major problem. The issue with EV trucks malfunctioning is that you need a fairly advanced technician, whereas most mechanics can service a diesel truck.
This gent shows what the honest person should know already. EV class 8 trucks do have their place in short, and mid range hauling. However they are not ready to take on the NYC to LA or longer hauls done by drivers every week in the US. Infrastructure aside the NYC to LA run is 2600 miles each way, and for a 2 driver team can be done in under 4 days in a diesel truck. It would take a fair bit longer due to stopping more often to charge an EV. One day the tech will be there, but not this day.
Well, that NYC to LA thing should be handled by trains instead of trucks anyway. But your corrupt system has done/is doing everything to stop progress to maximize profits…
ua-cam.com/video/AJ2keSJzYyY/v-deo.html
This only seems like its working due to how few EV trucks and cars there are. If these things were so good, we wouldn't have governments trying to force adoption. A feel bad for the future if this keeps up. The electric bills are going to be so high.
Could be worth having a power bank for your phone. Keep it fully charged, and use in emergency situations eg when the usb is broken 😉 A good one will charge the phone 3-4 times.
Here in canada we can legally drive 13 hours a day. Its cold here in winter -40 and there os no chargers. Even fuel stops can b3 500km + in between.
Eletric trucks dont work here.
Long live diesel trucks! ❤
Thank you for your Inspiration
Of course there must be more USB sockets. Like by the bed, or above the windscreen in some storage.
what happens when you have 20, 30 trucks wanting to charge at the same time
Then the electric company has to build a new coal-fired power plant
and of course lay larger cables
@@peterkrass5528 Lol what a load of Krass
@@stevehorner8302
I mean that seriously. 300 kw is no small feat. A standard household cable can transport perhaps 10 kW. If 30 trucks charge at the same time, that's 9 MW. That's 10% of the electrical output of a small coal-fired power plant.
Interesting video, but I can only imagine, with more EV cars and trucks are queued for the chargers the frustration that will occur. Not to mention the drain on the grid of the country you are in. Reminder- don't let your phone go flat, otherwise no apps. That is a crazy way to run life - a complete hostage to a mobile phone.
Good morning my German 🇩🇪 friend from my diesel DAF lol 😂 I really enjoy your videos 👍🏻 At least you’re showing the doubters that electric trucks can work 🤩 Keep the good work up buddy cheers Stevie 🏴
It's nice to see the practicality of living with EV trucks.
USB issue... sadly the 12volt plug is quite nice and adaptable.
I always carry a 20,000 pack with me that can charge and do pass-through for 4 items.
That Venlo setup is nice.
Wonder what the price difference is with the better internal wiring?
You should try an Edison Motors electric truck from Canada. They don't have to stop and charge so you have almost unlimited range!
Love your videos. Will you do a Q&A?
I would like to get your opinion on diesel-electric trucks like the ones Edison Motors making in Canada. To me, it makes the most sense. You don't have to rely on infrastructure that may or may not be working but you still get a fully electric drive train?
@Electric Trucker, there seem to be a audio sync issue with when you speak visually and when we hear you.
Why is the steering wheel crooked??
Great video as always. I hope u can add more "english" content sooner or later 🙂
Instead of a website, simply have a button on the charger to report an issue.
Maybe the charger could do a self-test / reset automatically at the same time.
Hope the Volvo Design Engineers watch this; yep you put one USB port into an electric truck costing $250K+ 😊
I look forward to receiving my new Volvo Electric truck at work soon, we are just waiting for the electrician to come by and install the charger for it
All I heard him talk about was everything revolving charging. Is he driving the truck or the truck driving him? Also these appear to be very short runs then back to a base. How would it handle it if he had to do 1500 to 2000km?
How much could Volvo have saved om the internat wireing.
I think many would have paid the extra cost if Volvo offered the quicker charging.
I think for many vehicles that a quick charge is even more important on those with smaller batteries. Yet the industry offers slow charging on those vehicles. I think they want to sell the more expensive vehicles as they make more money.
But that is less sustainable as more resources are tied up in each vehicle. For trucks that does not matter really as they are used so much of the time but for cars that often stand still more than 90% of all time it makes a big difference.
Amazon UK have just ordered 140 M-Benz eAtrcos 600 & 8 Volvo FM trucks - it’s happening!!!!!
We took the tour .. Electric Trucks just dont pencil out for us
The Uno-x charger in Norway support makes you call another country having to talk in english tonunderstand eachother.
I think each charger should have an emergency button that puts you in touch with another human being directly on screen!
60Euro / 100 km is not something that I expected.
Wouldn't your life be so much more convenient if your most regular loading spots had charging available?!
the Volvo we received don't display the navigation ...what kind of wizardry is that ?
is wireless mobile charging in truks a thing? in cars you can usually put it in some central tray to charge wirelessly
16:30 I believe some Renaults can actually charge that fast AC, not sure if Renaults also got semi's.
I think Volvo did slower charging not just because of cost but for reliability too. It costs charge speed, but if you do not have cable cooling, cable cooling cant break! :D This is engineering dilemma about adding stuff on top of stuff: your stuff breaks more often! To not break so often costs can be astronomical so simpler is better in lots of cases. They probably met with some weight, dimensional, or financial walls to implement that internal cabling for the truck and jus derated the current down. :) it wasnt probably in design plans at first
17:00 WOW you get your charging far cheeper than we do in the UK. We are paying between 69 and 79 pence per KWH, so about double what you are paying.
The UK isn't known as 'Treasure Island' for nothing.
Shell recharge near me is £0.89p / kWh 🤢
Italians and electricity don't go hand in hand 😂
Thanks for the brief!
24:00 Volvo could petition and invest, to build that overhead charging on busy routes. I am really rooting for that one. Reduce battery capacity is very important to manage cost of the over all truck unit.
How long does that take to charge from 10- 100 %. ???
If a car has a range of roughly 220 miles but what is the mile range of these trucks
Bro! keep hand on the wheel! blow outs!
9:05 grrr … phones need to come with swappable batteries so that it isn’t such a pain to either always be charging or replace when the battery gets old.
they do come, a lot of them, check out the fairphone.
So trucks don't have 12v accessory port? I have not experience with Trucks hence the question. But would assume if they have, a 12v accessory adapter is hardly a dollar.
Yes that one. Online its a dollar. But yes that is a good buy. I never load any system USB for charging on my car, why to move that power through a digital equipment. 12v accessory is right option to charge devices.
If you want your smartphone battery (same applies to all small electronics including laptops) to not loose its capacity approach it like an EV battery (the early EV NMC that wasn't really specialized for EV use) - don't charge it above 85% and don't discharge below 15% unless you absolutely have to and avoid fast charging as much as possible. The worst thing you can do to a battery longevity is to charge it to 100% and keep charging it still even after it's already fully charged. Some devices, like the work laptop from DELL I have have a tool that allows you to set a % charging limit, where upon reaching it, the device is powered by the charger and the battery is idle (neither charging nor discharging) until you unplug the charger. IMHO this SW should be mandatory (just like the USB-C charging port) for any device that includes a battery, which suffers from such degradation and already has a user interface with display and buttons/touch controls (e.g. all smartphones, laptops, smart toothbrushes, vapes).
Since you're spending a lot of time sitting in a truck, the truck's USB port will charge your phone nice and slowly, I'd just suggest for you to disconnect it from the charger when you see it charged above 80%. I work in IT, so there's always a free USB port I can plug into that doesn't offer any fast charging standard (any smartphone should be able to charge with the most basic USB spec of 5 V & 500 mA) and doing this I can easily make my smartphone last over 4 years without noticing any battery degradation. The majority of people would be happy with still using their old smartphone if its battery wasn't seriously degraded for these exact reasons, though many also care for the security updates that your smartphone stops getting after a couple years...
ahahaha a happy vid, yet you attract electric sceptics with a sad title :D
Don't like you taking your hands off the wheel very dangerous.
😂😂
Hi, sorry I maybe missed it in the video, but what happened to Iveco by the end of the day? Was it battery / BMS problem, or e-axle? I see on your German channel you’re still driving Iveco, not Volvo. I don’t quite understand your timeline 😅
The English videos are delayed by about 3 months. The Iveco got fixed and will appear again in later videos.
Given the HIGHWAY ROBBERY price paid for electricity, the extra time spent charging, the inconvenience of finding working chargers, and the reduced cargo weight, EV trucks look to be a non-starter.
Such a large car, and only has 1 USB port. What was Volvo thinking? That it is 1999? And that an extra USB port would cost another €1000?
Great information. Thank you. I would disagree with use of the thumbnail and video title though.
I ve been telling ppl as an electrician,before buying any electric machine or car,please do a deep study in how electricity works,in this case just imagine how much lithium needs the battery to move a load,lets say 20 tons,incluiding the weight of their own. The hevier the load,the hotter the battery and the fastest the charge,the fastest the battery lifespan will deteriorate.