MAHLE axes range anxiety for commercial EVs

New onboard range extender aims to accelerate the electrification of heavy-duty trucks thanks to less weight and reduced TCO.

The biggest obstacles to electrification of heavy-duty trucks are the range anxiety that comes with electric-only powertrains, the trade-off in carrying capacity that current BEV technology requires and the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a full battery-electric truck versus a comparable ICE one.

While development of improved battery technology and other pure EV propulsion research is still ongoing, several suppliers are offering electrification solutions that utilize existing ICE tech to improve the range and performance of current-generation heavy-duty EVs.