Several Swiss companies have joined forces to bring a fully electric heavy vehicle into service. Two copies have been circulating for a few weeks on the roads of the country.
With our correspondent in Lausanne, Jeremiah Lanche
” There is no noise ! This is what is most impressive because the noise pollution that we hear in the truck, there is much less. It’s great ! Nicolas Lang enjoys his job as a truck driver. But he loves it even more since he drives Friderici Special’s 40 tonne electric truck.
It is one of the two companies to have bought this new generation truck. “ So this truck, it has batteries behind the cab, Explain Clément Friderici, the boss of the company. In fact, we charge the truck overnight at an electrical outlet. It allows us to have the truck fully loaded in the morning when its driver leaves for his rounds. The great thing about electric trucks is that when you slow down, you recover energy. “
Profitable despite its price
Quieter, cleaner, it is also more expensive. The vehicle costs 6-7 times the price of a diesel truck. But Clément Friderici does not regret his purchase: “ Yes, it comes at a cost, but it pays off. In Switzerland, we have what is called the heavy vehicle fee linked to services which costs 1 franc [suisse] per kilometer traveled. With an alternative energy vehicle, we no longer pay this tax. With this advantage, we have an economic model that is once again possible. “
Too expensive to be a simple marketing argument, the truck will save 141 tonnes of CO2 each year for ten years. That is 141 Paris New York return trips by plane.
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