The competitiveness of electric trucks in multimodal networks: A case study of integration with inland waterways
Frank E. Alarcón,
Enzo Sauma and
Cyril Alias
Journal of Transport Geography, 2025, vol. 126, issue C
Abstract:
Crucial steps towards sustainable transportation include reducing road transport and transitioning to electric vehicles. Inland waterway transport (IWT) can reduce road transport but has not yet integrated battery-electric trucks (BETs) into its network. This study aims to address this gap by evaluating the competitiveness of heavy-duty BETs within a multimodal concept in the West German canal network. The total cost of ownership (TCO) methodology results indicate that BETs can be competitive with diesel trucks depending on the distance traveled and the ownership period. The baseline scenario suggests that BETs become a more economical option than diesel trucks for daily distances exceeding 234 km, assuming a 9-year ownership period. The economic impacts of various scenarios are evaluated, including subsidies, maintenance contracts, resale values, tolls, recharge times, and CO2 emissions. The purchase cost of the truck is the most significant cost for the electric option, while the fuel cost is the main cost for the diesel option. Furthermore, the results indicate that BETs emit 56 % less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than their diesel counterparts, and the decentralized IWT concept can decrease GHG emissions by 51 % through reduced road transport. The findings can provide decision-makers with a tool for efficiently allocating the type of truck to use according to their transport tasks.
Keywords: Total cost of ownership; GHG emission; Transportation electrification; Modal integration; Freight logistics; Heavy-duty truck (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692325001437
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:126:y:2025:i:c:s0966692325001437
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2025.104252
Access Statistics for this article
Journal of Transport Geography is currently edited by Frank Witlox
More articles in Journal of Transport Geography from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().