Will the electrical grid sustain the change towards an electrified freight truck fleet?

Abstract: The transport sector is facing major challenges to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. The electrification of the freight fleet, which is an important step towards emission reduction, will result in capacity challenges in the grid. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate how the existing grid is affected by the electrification of heavy trucks and what solutions or reinforcements needs to be implemented to enable this. A case study is performed on two different logistics centres in Sk ̊ane. Charging profiles with different charging techniques are created in Matlab based on interviews with the logistics centres. Simple charging resulted in a power peak of 19.5 MW and 5.0 MW for the respective fleets in the case of a total electrification. Planned charging resulted in power peaks of 13.0 MW and 2.9 MW, respectively. Aggregated with the existing baseload the created charging profiles are simulated on grid models in PowerFactory to observe overloading in components. The existing grid allows only 4 % and 7 % electrification, respectively. Different solutions to allow further electrification are evaluated and batteries is considered to be the most suitable option. This thesis concludes that planned charging reduces the load with approximately 35 % compared to simple charging and that truck charging increases the load on the grid considerably compared to the baseload. Batteries are evaluated based on dimensioned size and cost and are considered to be a viable solution to alleviate the grid in some cases until grid reinforcement is possible. As the electrification of the society proceeds, it is important to evaluate the prerequisites of the existing grid. Implementations of further solutions such as flexibility, energy production and energy efficient vehicles are necessary to maintain a sustainable electrical network.