Synthetic charging profiles development of battery–electric trucks for probabilistic grid planning

Abstract

The electrification of freight transport can help reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving climate protection goals in the transport sector. Truck manufacturers are progressively releasing modern battery–electric models onto the market. Charging the batteries of those trucks will create additional burdens to the power grid, nevertheless, research in grid planning has so far focused mainly on the charging of electric passenger cars. However, due to different driving behaviour in terms of distances and downtimes, the charging profile of electric trucks can differ significantly from that of electric cars. As the availability of measurement data is still scarce in the field of truck charging, synthetic charging profiles offer an opportunity to consider them in grid planning. This study proposes a methodology to produce synthetic charging profiles of electric trucks using trip chain generation based on real historic mobility data of conventional vehicles. The obtained synthetic profiles can be used in grid planning, not only in the development of new industrial areas, but also for further development of motorway service areas. The proposed approach is exemplified in a real logistics centre, showing the necessary charging powers to ensure the correct logistics operation, giving an insight into the expected energetic consumption increase.