Affordable E-Truck
So far electric cars are very expensive. When the CO2 tax gets realized in all of Europe one may wonder how super markets will drive in their supply in an affordable way? I stumbled across a project by the TUM which is a small E-Truck designed to drive on African roads, yet it seems relevant to the Europe aswell.
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The E-Truck can drive up to 60km/h with a range of up to 80km. It can carry up to 1 ton. With a price target of only 10 000 Euro it could be an affordable option for small European supermarkets, and once E-Vehicles get subsidized it would be even cheaper than a regular car. If the battery runs out while driving, solar panels on the roof will recharge the car. The car will be produced in Germany mid year by the company Evum Motors GMBH (but will also have production sites in Africa).
For bigger supermarkets it might even make sense to automatize the process and use electric self driving trucks such as the ones from the Swedish start up "Einride".
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It would be awesome if we could shift to use only electric cars, lucky that days seems to be getting closer and closer.
Interesting project. Personally, I believe that consumers will have to pay a lot more to fill up their batteries than they currently spend on gas. And let's not forget how these cars are much more expensive to maintain and to repair than the others.
Maybe it will be a success in the richest countries but in countries like Portugal, people will only buy an Electric Car if someone points a gun at their heads.
the small truck is pretty light though. using this app and german fuel cost i calculated that fuel for a regular car for 80km would cost 14.9$ while in the most expensive electricity price countries recharging 20kWh small truck that can drive 80km would cost about 7$ for an electricity price of 0.36$/kWh (germany and denmark). once CO2 tax happens petrol prices get worse.
The big truck might even make money when supermarkets dont use it. the battery can be used to be charged when electricity prices are low and sell electricity in the evening when no one works and the electricity prices are high.
Just wait until the electric cars gain enough market share and you'll see how high that electricity will go.
germany is already subsidizing solar panel installments. i think people will start producing their own electricity before the electricity price doubles. im also anticipating the solid state batery that will be released by tesla, toyota and dyson next year. this will make bateries cheaper (due to less lithium) with higher capacity while smaller size. tesla already has a powerwall batery for solar houses, and with solid state batery technology the powerwall might turn into a power cabinet.
You're assuming the Electricity Market players are fair people and won't fix the prices between them. You obviously need to pay a visit to Portugal. 😂
if it comes to high electricity prices, Germany and Denmark are NUMBER ONE YAYYYY. germany as far as i know though has low entry requirement in the market. anyone can get funding for a solar roof and sell electricity back to the electricity company.