Playing with scenarios in the EV Truck Route Planner

Hubschneider started as a software developer at PTV more than 30 years ago. For seventeen years, he has been a product manager, a position in which he can indulge his passion for innovation and develop new IT solutions. Sustainability is an important guiding principle in this. “Ten years ago, I first came into contact with electric transport within PTV. We did about five research projects in that field. Very interesting, but we were way too early back then,” Hubschneider states.

Now, however, the time is right for IT solutions in the field of electric transport. This has to do with the fundamental change the transport sector is undergoing. That change is that CO2 reduction is no longer just an ideal, but increasingly an important cost component and even a legal obligation. Hubschneider points to CO2 charges, CO2-dependent tolls, legally required CO2 reporting and the growing number of low and zero-emission zones in Europe, among other things. “These are facts that even practical-minded, cost-oriented hauliers can no longer ignore. They must deal with them – if not now, then in the future. And they know that.”

Hubschneider emphasises that electrification of the transport fleet need not lead to higher costs. For two years now, the purchase of an electric truck has been a profitable investment, at least in the Benelux countries, Germany, and France. This is due to the previously mentioned cost of CO2 emissions, but also to technological advances, increasing battery performance and falling purchase and maintenance costs. “I am convinced that battery-electric vehicles will prevail over all other alternative technologies. We will see new battery technologies make their appearance and the variety of battery-electric vehicles increase significantly. That said, there will certainly continue to be room for those other technologies. It is up to the transport companies themselves to decide which technology is most interesting from a business point of view.”

One challenge is the increasing congestion on electricity grids. Not only in the Netherlands but also elsewhere in Europe, it is difficult to get a new connection to the power grid or expand the existing connection. The current capacity is simply not enough to charge all battery-electric vehicles in the future. “One solution could be the use of large energy storage systems, where energy from solar panels can be stored in batteries. If we fail to solve the problem, other energy sources such as hydrogen and CNG might become interesting again.”

For transport planners, working with electric vehicles means a big change. Suddenly, they have to consider a new constraint: the vehicle’s limited range. What makes this restriction tricky is that the range is not a fixed datum. Of course, the range varies by type of vehicle, but also by trip. The weight of the goods in the load compartment has an influence, but also the outside temperature, wind force and the age of the vehicle. Hubschneider recommends careful monitoring of the vehicles’ range. “This issue calls for self-learning planning systems. These can continuously compare the actual range with the pre-expected range to learn from it and plan more and more accurately.”

Another factor concerns the high purchase cost. To recoup these as soon as possible, transport companies will want to maximise the use of their electric vehicles. “What the options are for this depends, among other things, on the addresses and opening hours,” Hubschneider explains. “An additional complicating factor is the huge variation in electric vehicles and thus the variation in deployment options. You can choose not only the brand and type of truck but also the number of batteries per truck. If you can charge at the final destination, a lighter truck with fewer batteries will suffice. If you cannot load at the final destination, you will need a heavier truck with more batteries. Or you have to choose to change the empty truck for a truck with full batteries on the way. All these possibilities make planning a lot more complicated, especially for transport companies with mixed fleets. At the same time, planning also becomes a lot more interesting, as planners have more leeway to get the most out of the fleet.”

Earlier this year, PTV launched its first route planner for electric vehicles with the EV Truck Route Planner. Planners can select the truck or van they want to use from a large database. They can then enter the start and end points of the route, as well as the weight of the load and the battery level at the start. At the press of a button, the tool then calculates the optimal route, given the current weather and traffic conditions. The result is a summary map with the optimal route including any charging stops and the battery level at the end of the trip.

Hubschneider is at the heart of the EV Truck Route Planner, which is currently available free of charge. “We developed that not so much for transport planners, but for transport managers and fleet managers. They can use the tool to get a feel for electric vehicles. What are the capabilities of the electric vehicles currently available? What does it mean for your operation if you buy such a vehicle? What does it do to your range if you have a strong headwind? What kind of range will you still have if the vehicle is five years old and it is freezing outside? Users can play with different scenarios.”

The tool has been very well received. Many companies are making full use of the tool, but at the same time indicate that they would like to include even more cost factors, emissions, and scenarios in their calculations to inform their investment decisions. “We are working on that. We also want to include more information about the charging infrastructure, so users can also play with that,” Hubschneider states.

What makes EV Truck Route Planner special is the huge database of electric vehicles available on the European market. “We use the commercial information made available by the manufacturers, but this is not sufficient. So, we have built a digital model, or digital twin, of each vehicle. We feed that model with data we collect in practice, which allows us to calculate the energy consumption and range of electric vehicles with increasing accuracy. And if that data is not available, we use assumptions based on standard vehicle reference models,” Hubschneider says.

Thanks to these digital twins, PTV can calculate the influence of factors such as load weight, outdoor temperature, wind force and battery age for each vehicle model. “In addition, we use PTV’s map data, such as maximum driving speed and traffic density. We also know that the driver’s driving behaviour has a major influence on energy consumption and range. And that driving behaviour depends on the road he is driving on. In a city, a driver simply has to brake and accelerate much more often than on a motorway. We have all that data available.”

In time, PTV’s trip and route planning systems such as OptiFlow, Route Optimiser ST and TLNplanner will also offer the possibility of planning with electric vehicles. By the end of this year, PTV will make the building blocks of EV Truck Route Planner available to third parties in the form of APIs so that they can integrate the tool into their platforms and systems. Meanwhile, Hubschneider hopes the government will move forward with laws, regulations and policy measures needed to manage the energy transition. Measures to improve grid access, to promote standardisation in energy infrastructure. “In addition, we should not only look for partial solutions but look at the ecosystem as a whole. For example, if we share what trips we have planned for tomorrow, we can also optimise vehicle charging planning. If we all work together, we can make the energy transition a success.”