Route Towards Road Freight Electrification in India: Examining Battery Electric Truck Powertrain and Energy Consumption

Medium-duty/heavy-duty trucks (MD/HDTs) are yet to be included in India’s electric mobility plans. With the improvement of electric vehicle (EV) technologies, there is a growing interest in battery-electric trucks (BETs) from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The time is opportune to consider electrification as a future direction for road freight in India. Accordingly, this article presents the results of an energy consumption simulation study of a BET under Indian conditions. This study specifically considered an MDBET over a domestic drive cycle. These energy consumption figures can facilitate future studies that analyze the technical and practical feasibility of BETs in the country. In addition, the article provides the requisite groundwork for BET modeling for a simulation study by reviewing available EV powertrain systems and components. Appropriate powertrain considerations are thereby obtained for a typical medium-duty/heavy-duty battery-electric truck (MD/HDBET) in the Indian context.