The conclusions regarding electric HGVs in Poland are in stark contrast to those charged via the grid in many EU nations, including numerous central European countries.
Of the 10 other EU nations listed on the chart used in sennder’s webinar, all grid-charged electric HGVs were found to generate significantly less CO2 emissions than diesel equivalents.
On average, sennder finds that electric HGVs charged via the grid in the EU produce 63% less emissions than diesel trucks.
Commenting on the figures during the webinar, Major-Ex said:
“We can see that depending on the country and the average electricity mix in each of those countries, we’re going to save on average in the EU 63% of emissions. That is very good because that means we can run about two transports or three transports for the same amount of electric emissions that we would run one diesel transport. Now that’s just on average. If we look at countries like Netherlands and Germany, we’re sort of in the 40-50% range, going all the way up to Austria and France, where we’re at the 85-95% range of emissions reductions – this is a really good step already.”
sennder’s Director of Green Business and eMobility then went on to explain that the figures are based on 1.4 kilowatt hours per kilometer. According to the digital freight forwarder, this number will improve drastically over the next couple of years – generating even further reductions in emissions.
Major-Ex then moved onto the topic of Poland, which stands out clearly on the company’s chart.
“You’ve probably noticed that Poland at the bottom is actually increasing emissions by 10%. If we plug in our electric, to the Polish grid, at this moment in time in 2022, will actually increase emissions by 10%.”
According to energy think tank Ember, Poland still produces 79% of its electricity from fossil fuels, placing it top in the EU. 69% of the country’s power in 2022 was from coal. Only 21% of Polish electricity comes from renewable energy sources, which is also among the lowest in the EU. The think tank adds that Poland only intends to increase renewables to 32-50% by 2030, significantly below the target of 69% set in RePowerEU.
Therefore, as Major-Ex explains during the webinar, hauliers wishing to use electric trucks in Poland to reduce their emissions will need to at least partly charge their vehicles using renewable electricity.
“If we have solar panels on our roof, or solar panels at a distribution center at the warehouse, we can run those same trucks on 100% renewable electricity and go to zero emissions. So that’s a game changer because there’s there’s no world in which most carriers or logistics operators are going to be able to produce their own renewable diesel or their own diesel,” said Graham A. Major-Ex.