GHG emission reduction potential of road freight transport by using battery electric trucks in Finland and Switzerland

Large-scale adoption of battery electric trucks (BETs) might be a practical solution for reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in road freight transport sector if certain requirements are met. The minimum requirements are: 1) to overcome the operational range restrictions of BETs, and 2) to access an electricity power network with a certain level of emission intensity for the battery charging and battery production. In this study, we use a parametric GHG emission life cycle analysis (LCA) combined with a BET operational range coverage analysis to develop a methodology to provide a realistic estimation of BET’s large-scale adoption and its GHG emission reduction potential for different electrification scenarios for battery and charging technology improvements in trucks with gross vehicle weight (GVW) over 3.5 tons in Finland and Switzerland. Life cycle (LC) GHG emission reduction potential in Finland is estimated to be very low (around 30% with the help of electric road system (ERS) in some routes and around 12% without ERS) in the short-term electrification scenarios; however, the mid-term and long-term scenarios are promising for LC GHG emission reduction potentials (up to 60%) even with the current level of electricity emission factors in Finland. In Switzerland, LC GHG emission reduction potential is estimated to be quite high (74% in Switzerland vs. 12%-30% in Finland) compared to Finland in the short-term electrification scenarios; however, the midterm and long-term scenarios show high LC GHG emission reduction potentials for Switzerland (around 93%), while Finland needs the help of full-decarbonization of electricity generation for battery charging and battery production in BETs, and use of renewable fuels in other trucks, to achieve high emission reduction.