According to a study, the development of a charging infrastructure for electric trucks will cost almost 35 billion euros.

Experts from the consulting firm PwC wrote in a study published on Monday that public investment in Europe would amount to 6.1 billion euros by 2035 in order to set up 720 charging parks and thus ensure a nationwide infrastructure. A further 28.6 billion euros would be used by the logistics sector to build around 28,500 charging points in depots. When it comes to charging, the focus has so far been strongly on public fast-charging parks, which are necessary for broad coverage of the area, but whose capacity utilization fluctuates greatly, said PwC expert Philipp Rose. "The logistics sector should therefore also take the initiative in future and invest more in depot charging points." Capacity utilization there is easier to plan, which helps to keep costs under control.

The charging infrastructure is crucial because energy costs in logistics account for a large proportion of total operating costs. The consultants assume that one in five trucks worldwide will be battery-powered by 2030. Ten years later, 90 percent of transportation is expected to be electrified. The ramp-up will be driven by technological advances, falling overall costs and stricter regulation. In Europe in particular, the transport industry will be faced with stricter CO2 limits. In addition, vehicles with longer ranges and shorter charging times are coming onto the market.

(Report by Christina Amann, edited by Christian Götz. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at Berlin.Newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or Frankfurt.Newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets)