South Africa's heavy-duty electric trucks to get battery swapping stations

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Luis

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South Africa's heavy-duty electric trucks to get battery swapping stations

One of the world's largest manufacturers of electric heavy-duty trucks plans to pilot battery swapping stations in South Africa, starting on the freight-intensive N3 corridor between Johannesburg and Durban.

Chinese heavy machinery manufacturer Sany operates the biggest pure electric heavy-duty truck factory in the world, capable of producing 300,000 units annually.
 
its cute and all. But the Battery weight cuts down on the load they can carry, so the economics does not make sense. If the price of diesel goes up, that might change, but not yet.

what they should be looking at is Diesel-electric hybrids with smaller batteries. Like Edison Trucks. you get all the range of a standard diesel, you save 30-50% in diesel, due to things like regen braking and downhill recharge. You also simplify the system as it does not need a complex gearbox. For interest the diesel engine on the Diesel-Electic is not connected to the drivetrain. Its a simple electric only drivetrain (like a diesel train, or heavy earth mover). It just recharges the battery when it gets low, so it always runs at the optimal RPM for efficiency. No gearbox, no clutches, no syncros, no differentials.
 
Lupus said:
Battery swapping, hmmm going back to the 1900s with electric cars
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Don't truckers have mandatory breaks like EU? They can charge during their breaks like in the EU. 350kW charger is enough. Unfortunately, we live in a backwater shithole that only support 50kW chargers.
 
wingnut771 said:
Don't truckers have mandatory breaks like EU? They can charge during their breaks like in the EU. 350kW charger is enough. Unfortunately, we live in a backwater shithole that only support 50kW chargers.
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We're getting there...Rubicon have some fast chargers and I recently used Zero carbon charge's stations on the N3 which can reach 400kw...truly life changing to have fast EV chargers.

BYD are planning to launch those over 1000kw chargers in SA in the next year or 2 also...Geely launched their own too.That will basically level the playing field with ICE since you can charge to 97% in under 9 minutes.
 
wait till the skelms find out --- rob those stations blind and resell those batteries
 
Sapphiron said:
its cute and all. But the Battery weight cuts down on the load they can carry, so the economics does not make sense. If the price of diesel goes up, that might change, but not yet.

what they should be looking at is Diesel-electric hybrids with smaller batteries. Like Edison Trucks. you get all the range of a standard diesel, you save 30-50% in diesel, due to things like regen braking and downhill recharge. You also simplify the system as it does not need a complex gearbox. For interest the diesel engine on the Diesel-Electic is not connected to the drivetrain. Its a simple electric only drivetrain (like a diesel train, or heavy earth mover). It just recharges the battery when it gets low, so it always runs at the optimal RPM for efficiency. No gearbox, no clutches, no syncros, no differentials.
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How much does the truck battery weigh and how much less freight can they transport.

What is the cost per kg of the freight?

How much money are they losing per trip?
 
TheMightyQuin said:
How much does the truck battery weigh and how much less freight can they transport.

What is the cost per kg of the freight?

How much money are they losing per trip?
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How much does it cost to maintain?
How much does it cost to move?
How stable is the price of the "fuel"?


In the article:
The initial upfront cost of the latest Sany model with a 600kWh battery is around R5 million, compared to about R4 million for a diesel-powered truck with similar power output.

However, speaking to MyBroadband, Singh explained that the difference can be accounted for within a few months with trucks that cover hundreds of kilometres daily.
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You get a payback in a few months due to the operating costs being substantially lower.


I don't really see the point of the battery swapping tbh.

It costs roughly half a million rand to build a direct current (DC) charging point with a 500kW output to charge one of these trucks in about 45 minutes.

Singh said that with staggered charging schedules, it could be possible to charge two dozen trucks daily at the same point, reducing the cost recovery period on the installation.
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We have 1.5 MW chargers anyway.
https://www.evinfrastructurenews.co...rger-launched-in-china-due-for-global-rollout

So that takes it to 15 minutes.

They all have giant fixed battery banks that get charged up from the grid, so it likely is that any neighbouring farm to charging stations could coin it by installing solar panels. Not to mention panels on the foreshore as well.
 
TheMightyQuin said:
How much does the truck battery weigh and how much less freight can they transport.
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about 5 tons less or 10000 pounds
TheMightyQuin said:
What is the cost per kg of the freight?
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depends on what they carry. most trips are for a specific cargo over distance and the number of trucks used. weight only comes into play when it requires multiple trips, or multiple trucks.
TheMightyQuin said:
How much money are they losing per trip?
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they can carry 80000 total weight limit. a normal truck is 20000 weight, trailer is about 15000. so they have 45000 for cargo. With a tesla semi, its only 35000 in cargo, so they lose about 23% capacity. so you need 5 tesla trucks to cover the work of 4 normal ones.
 
Sapphiron said:
about 5 tons less or 10000 pounds

depends on what they carry. most trips are for a specific cargo over distance and the number of trucks used. weight only comes into play when it requires multiple trips, or multiple trucks.

they can carry 80000 total weight limit. a normal truck is 20000 weight, trailer is about 15000. so they have 45000 for cargo. With a tesla semi, its only 35000 in cargo, so they lose about 23% capacity. so you need 5 tesla trucks to cover the work of 4 normal ones.
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You seem to be quoting American rates here...doesn't apply in SA.To be clear we can load more and our trucks can be longer we even have super links....

Also 5 tons less sounds like Tesla numbers...in SA we have the SANY 600 which offers the same payloads as normal trucks like an Actros 2645.So again to be clear you can load the same as an Actros 2645 in SA legally.
 
Jan van Riebeeckstad said:
Don't be bringing your capitalistic ideas here.

Save the Environment, Greta will be pleased.
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I'm a proud capitalist.You have no idea what you're talking about,probably not in the trucking industry or have your head buried in the sand.

I'm literally jumping at the bit to get reasonably priced electric trucks here with 350km+ range as a real world achievable minimum with a full load,screw Greta if I can save 2/3rds of my fuel bill per month I'm 600% in!

The current issue is the EV trucks upfront capital cost is almost double a conventional diesel trucks cost at the moment(R4.6bar for the Sany 600 horse) and will only make sense for those doing extremely high KM per month to the point where your Diesel bill per truck is over R200k.

When EV trucks reach closer to price parity with diesel trucks then its a no brainer...it's just a matter of time, EV cars are already almost there thanks to the Chinese.
 
falcon786 said:
You seem to be quoting American rates here...doesn't apply in SA.To be clear we can load more and our trucks can be longer we even have super links....

Also 5 tons less sounds like Tesla numbers...in SA we have the SANY 600 which offers the same payloads as normal trucks like an Actros 2645.So again to be clear you can load the same as an Actros 2645 in SA legally.
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True, The Tesla semi is not particularly well engineered.

Teslas are falling behind the chinese quite badly in battery tech the last few years.
 
falcon786 said:
I'm a proud capitalist.You have no idea what you're talking about,probably not in the trucking industry or have your head buried in the sand.

I'm literally jumping at the bit to get reasonably priced electric trucks here with 350km+ range as a real world achievable minimum with a full load,screw Greta if I can save 2/3rds of my fuel bill per month I'm 600% in!

The current issue is the EV trucks upfront capital cost is almost double a conventional diesel trucks cost at the moment(R4.6bar for the Sany 600 horse) and will only make sense for those doing extremely high KM per month to the point where your Diesel bill per truck is over R200k.

When EV trucks reach closer to price parity with diesel trucks then its a no brainer...it's just a matter of time, EV cars are already almost there thanks to the Chinese.
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no more 18 speed gearbox maintenance!
 
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