Electric truck stops will need as much power as a small town

When the road transport industry eventually makes the transition to electric trucks, how much power will the grid need to charge them?

That’s exactly the question US-based electricity and utilities company National Grid asked itself and the answer it came up with was a rather large figure.

As reported by CarScoops, the power company states that a truck stop for electric trucks in 2035 would require as much electricity as a small town. For context sake, that’s more than the Empire State Building.

However, it’s not the amount of electricity needed that’s the problem but rather how much of it is needed at the same time.

To feed a truck stop full of electric trucks, it would require a system capable of delivering more than 5 megawatts of power. A development like that would take approximately 8 years to plan and build alongside millions of dollars to do so.

So without the necessary charging infrastructure in place, the electric truck market may find itself in tatters if governments move too fast to impose fully electrified road transport. 

Let’s not forget all the car charging stations that need to be installed alongside the truck chargers too.

As for New Zealand, it will likely take a lot of convincing to install the required, costly infrastructure for a relatively small fleet of EV trucks in the future.