SIMPSON SAYS

FUEL FOR FREE

By Richard Simpson, industry pundit

Ever since the doublewhammy of Covid and Brexit, drivers have been at the top of the agenda for road transport. DVLA is now testing new drivers in record numbers as, at long last, the wages on offer from hauliers are reflecting the responsibilities and value of the driving profession.

But what about driver skills?

It’s a fact that modern trucks are a great leveller. Top of the range heavy trucks now feature a wide range of electronic aids: everything from initiating an emergency stop to choosing the correct gear change sequence to climb a hill, can now be done by the truck, rather than the driver!

Everyone will have their own view as to whether this is a good or bad thing: but few people yet realise that it’s only a temporary state of affairs. Electric trucks will change everything, and operators of electric trucks will find they are back in the 1990s when it comes to the importance of driver skills: the difference between their best and worst drivers will be far greater than the difference between the best and worst trucks.

It’s simple. The keys to getting a usable range out of an electric truck are going to be routeing and driving. Trucks will have to be routed so they tackle the steepest climbs first, with full batteries, then recoup charge by using regenerative braking on the downhills. Data gathered by telematics can be used to plan the most efficient routes for electric trucks, and in many cases they will be different to the most efficient routes for diesels.

And that’s the easy bit. The driver has a more complex task, and will need a different mindset to that of today’s drivers.

Patience and attention are the key. We are used to electric appliances being ‘switch on and go’ but that won’t be the case with electric trucks. They are actually more like electronic devices than electric ones. You can just switch on a vacuum cleaner and sweep the carpet, but you have to wait for your computer to power up and log on before you can start surfing the net. Similarly, an electric truck needs time to power up its various systems: you can’t just turn the key and go.

And once underway, drivers will realise that they need to pay more attention to the road ahead and the state of the vehicle than they would with a diesel. The most important factor is the battery state. It’s not like a fuel gauge with a slow linear decline through the day: with an actual full to empty range of under 100 miles in some conditions, it will drop very fast indeed by comparison.

But then, electric trucks can also refuel on the move by using regenerative braking: for the driver it’s the equivalent of using an engine brake or retarder: but instead of turning kinetic energy into heat and sound, it turns it into electricity. This ability to harvest ‘fuel for free’ is the key to the successful operation of electric trucks, and one of the reasons why they are far more suitable to operations in town and on rural roads than they are on motorways.

The driver has to actively monitor the battery state: when the batteries are full, or nearly so, regenerative braking is wasteful, and the truck should be allowed to freewheel and preserve momentum if possible. When the battery is less than fullycharged then regenerative braking must be used to top it up.

A good electric truck driver will keep an eye on the battery state, but will also be watching the road ahead with a view to creating the maximum space in front of the vehicle, and therefore minimising the use of the friction brakes. This will require practice and patience, but other aspects of the electric driving experience (the lack of noise, vibration and gearchanges) should help to ultimately reduce the stress levels overall.