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Daimler’s eActros long-haul electric truck carries a sticker price triple that of a combustion engine equivalent, a difference in price unlikely to change any time soon, Martin Daum, Daimler Truck CEO, said in a Financial Times interview.
The company sold 712 eActros trucks last year out of more than 455,000 trucks sold in total.
There is about €25,000 worth of material in a gas- or diesel-powered truck, Daum said.
“How much battery do you get for €25,000?,” he asked. “Even if [battery costs drop to] €60 a kilowatt-hour and I still need 400 kilowatt-hours [per truck], then I need €24,000 alone for the battery cells” in one truck.
Battery prices averaged $132 per kilowatt-hour in 2021 and are predicted to remain above $100 at least through next year.
Without government subsidies to make up the difference, “the price of an electric truck will always, forever be higher than a [combustion engine] truck,” he said.
Daimler has been developing both electric and hydrogen-fueled trucks and might shift more emphasis to the latter if the cost of battery materials remains high, Daum said.
Earlier this month, Germany signed an agreement to buy hydrogen and liquefied natural gas from Qatar.
TRENDPOST: Electric cars are more expensive to buy than gas buggies but are cheaper to own over the vehicles’ lifespan because fuel and maintenance are both less expensive.
That math is less likely to work for heavy-duty, long-haul trucks that see continuous use and will wear out a battery pack much faster than a passenger vehicle will.