A new report from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) has found benefits to using renewable diesel (RD) as an alternative to battery electric vehicle (BEV) trucks.
The report found that trucks using RD have significant negative environmental impacts when they are converted to BEV, and that there are operational benefits for trucking in using RD, as well as significant infrastructure and new vehicle cost savings. The report found that relying on BEV to decrease CO2 emissions is nearly six times as expensive than using RD.
“My company quickly and successfully transitioned to renewable diesel in April of last year. ATRI’s research offers concrete evidence that this move is better for the environment and easier to achieve than other low-carbon options,” Andy Owens, CEO and Manager of A&M Transport of Glendale, Oregon, said.
The analysis is a follow-up to past findings that utilized the U.S. Department of Energy’s GREET Model to confirm that renewable diesel is a promising solution for lowering the trucking industry’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Overall, the report found, transition to BEV for long-haul trucking will cost more than $1 trillion in electric infrastructure and vehicle purchase costs over 15 years. However, similar results can be reached with RD for a price tag of only $203 billion. RD, the report found, is considerably more scalable than BEV and can be deployed immediately in trucks without modifications. Because of that, RD can be achieved much quicker than with a BEV transition, the report said.