Electric Trucks

### Reader’s Letter to The Guardian, 1st July 2024 ###

Dear Editor,

I read Lisa O’Carroll’s piece on electric trucks (The Guardian, 30th June 2024, link below) and, although she sums up the current status very well (i.e. that at the moment only 300 electric trucks are registered and those are only for local deliveries), I feel that the whole premise for our desire for electric mobility is fundamentally wrong. Especially regarding trucks!

The disadvantages which instantly come to mind are … a.) the weight (of the battery); b.) the toxicity (of the battery); c.) the flamability (of the battery); d. the energy needed (both for manufacture and for charging) and; e.) masses of toxic microplastic abraded from tyre-tread (even more of that with heavy EVs and eTrucks!)

In my view we haul far too much freight anyway and should be pushing for a return to structures where local produce and products (and manufacturing) are the more natural choice. Indeed, what are those half-a-million trucks hauling around anyway? For example, when I walk down the yogurt-aisle of a British supermarket, my mind boggles at the rather decadent range of choices. Is that necessary?

Here in Germany things are marginally better with supermarkets being smaller, more “local” and often within walking distance. And here there are regular street-markets (at rotating sites in the city) selling produce from local farmers. For me this is the way to go.

But Germany is also fixated on “electrifying haulage” and is testing overhead cables to charge trucks as they drive (link below).  For me this is the “crowning delusion” because, while you are installing all that kit, why not simply put freight on the rails? Or keep your sourcing as local as possible?

Yes, let’s drop the whole EV (and eTruck) idea and instead simply stroll down to our local market and pick up some vegetables that have been grown by a farmer just a few miles down the road … rather than flown/freighted in from the other side of the planet!

Yours,
Alan Mitcham

Link to original article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/30/uk-haulage-industry-calls-for-investment-in-electric-truck-infrastructure

Link to article on truck charging cables: https://www.fr.de/panorama/stromleitungen-ueber-autobahnen-lkw-oberleitungen-elektro-hybrid-strom-zr-90973005.html