EV Technology for Heavy-Duty Applications

This session explores the electrification of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, highlighting battery chemistry forecasts, supply-chain trends, and technology choices for different applications using the latest MHCV battery forecast at S&P Global Mobility. It also examines how standardisation of modules and packs can reduce costs and accelerate adoption, providing delegates with a clear view of the key drivers shaping the commercial-vehicle battery landscape.

Tyfast’s vanadium oxide anode enables <6-minute fast charging, >10,000-cycle life, and exceptional low-temperature capability, supporting both charging and discharging down to –40 °C. Recent >10 Ah pouch-cell results demonstrate strong high-rate performance, zero-volt stability, and robustness above 45C rate. Ongoing development of next-generation LVO chemistries aims to increase energy density while maintaining ultra-fast-charge capability for heavy-duty, fleet, and industrial electrification.

With concerns on range, cost, and charging infrastructure to mass adoption of BEV heavy-duty trucks, hybrid battery powertrains offer an alternative that combines the traditional ICE with a battery to provide an intermediate step towards electrification. The electrochemistry considerations and performance requirements in cell design differs to that of BEV, which will be discussed in the various levels of hybridisation as investigated at Accelera.

Battery-electric trucks can be the future backbone of the transport industry—combining maximum energy efficiency with good flexibility. Daimler Truck AG has proven with a number of projects and products on a global scale how capable these electric trucks can be. This presentation will investigate the special needs of batteries and cells for commercial vehicles with a special focus on the lithiation and delithiation mechanisms in LMFP-NMC blends.

Batteries capable of fast charge hold great interest for electrification of multiple heavy-duty applications. These require many charge–discharge cycles, often high-discharge power, and limited trade-off of energy density. Fast charge supports higher uptime and work rates. Nyobolt is working with partners in robotics, mining, and construction to implement batteries capable of 5–10-minute full SOC charging, high cycle life, and acceptable thermal attributes. Technology and implementation efforts are described.

Battery-electric heavy duty vehicles face very different challenges in a mining environment compared to on-road BEVs. This talk will give an overview of typical duty cycles that actual, deployed underground mining BEV fleets see, how a vehicle-battery-charger system is optimized for this type of application, and what are OEMs looking for in emerging battery technology to enable the next horizon of improvements.

Electrifying ultra-heavy mining equipment was long considered beyond practical reach. This presentation explains how Fortescue leverages advances in battery chemistry, pack architecture, thermal, structural, and control design to redefine zero-emission heavy industry. Lessons from motorsport and high-performance electrification inform solutions for multi-megawatt duty cycles, harsh environments, and fleet-scale optimisation, highlighting the architectural innovations needed to shift from diesel dependence to fully electric mine sites across global mining operations worldwide.

This presentation offers a concise overview of batteries tailored for long-haul electric trucks, focusing on key performance needs, system challenges, and the evolving role of energy storage in enabling sustainable freight transport across demanding routes and operational conditions.

Development and validation of commercial-vehicle battery cells requires detailed understanding of the expected system design and use cases for the cells, in the context of battery packs, pack systems, and full vehicles. This presentation will cover requirements, definition, and design for commercial-vehicle-specific battery cells, discuss challenges and approaches toward development and validation of cells, and provide a progress update on new LMFP-based cell testing.

This talk offers a high-level look at emerging battery system opportunities and challenges in heavy-duty applications. It will touch on evolving technical trends, system-level considerations, and broader implications for electrification strategies across demanding transport and industrial sectors.

Heavy duty necessarily involves high powers to move large masses. Therefore, great opportunity exists to transfer technology to/from motorsports applications. Here, an analysis of the common aspects and the unique challenges is presented.

Electrifying haulage pushes batteries to their limits: heat, dust, ultra-fast charging, and near-zero downtime. This talk shows how software-defined vehicles, paired with the Elysia embedded-and-cloud ecosystem, close the loop between onboard control and fleet insights for safe performance at-scale. Using targeted telematics, diagnostics/prognostics, and degradation-aware simulation, operators optimise assignments while protecting weaker packs and extracting more from stronger ones: improving range, charge time, lifetime, and total cost of ownership.

Data-driven battery-degradation models increase the confidence of their predictions as more data is compilated from operation. Each time the degradation model is updated, the operation of a fleet of heavy-duty vehicles can be re-optimised (e.g., updating the charging or energy-management strategy), so the warranty period of the battery is respected. As new vehicles are introduced in the fleet, transfer learning is applied to develop new degradation models.

Heavy-duty applications require robust, reliable battery solutions capable of operating under demanding conditions. This presentation offers a high-level view of battery technologies for heavy-duty use cases, highlighting key trends, challenges, and the role of batteries in supporting electrification and decarbonisation across industrial and infrastructure sectors.