ESCALATE participated in the annual ZEFES Symposium, which took place on 23 October 2024 at the headquarters of Volvo Trucks in the Swedish city of Gothenburg. Our project was represented by Mikko Pihlatie from VTT, who engaged with interested stakeholders, OEMs and ZEFES partners during the World Café in the afternoon of the symposium.
ZEFES and ESCALATE share similarities
In comparison to other zero-emission freight projects from the AEVETO cluster that focus on the deployment of hydrogen solutions (H2Haul) or medium-sized trucks in urban areas (NextETRUCK), ESCALATE and ZEFES will pilot trucks that will operate on long-distance, cross-border routes of around 500-700km per trip. These trips also include several ferry crossings of the Baltic Sea, as well as routes around Istanbul, which are similar to ESCALATE.
Specificities of ZEFES piloting
Besides the cross-border aspects of the long-haul pilots, ZEFES aims to achieve various other goals, such as improved refueling- and recharging stations which are being built for the project, as well as the demonstration of an interoperable megawatt charging system (MCS) and digital twinning solutions. Overall, the main objective of the project is to create a pathway for long-haul BEVs and FCEVs to become more affordable and reliable, more energy efficient, with a longer range per single charge and reduced charging times able to meet the user’s needs.
Industry tackles severe challenges with optimistic outlook towards the future
Various stakeholders presented existing challenges and potential solutions to decarbonise heavy-duty freight throughout the three sessions that focused on weights and dimensions, energy infrastructure and business models. Numerous solutions related to policy, European cooperation, infrastructure investment and total cost of ownership need to be found to boost the competitiveness of zero-emission freight in comparison to traditional ICE HDVs. Nevertheless, the ZEFES project partners, and OEMs like Volvo Trucks, are optimistic to reach the ambitious EU climate targets.
We invite you to follow our AEVETO partner ZEFES on social media (Twitter & LinkedIn), if you want to learn more.