Insights from Follow-up Workshop on Real-World Energy Efficiency and Emissions of Electric Freight Vehicles

On 23 June 2025, ALICE hosted a follow-up workshop under Thematic Group 1 (TG1) to explore the real-world energy efficiency and emissions performance of electric freight vehicles (EFVs). Building on the discussions of the 5 May 2025 webinar, the session brought together experts from logistics operations, vehicle manufacturing, infrastructure, and research to address the remaining questions, and gaps, around EFV deployment. 

The session opened with a comprehensive recap by Fernando Liesa (ALICE), who reviewed the technical and regulatory findings of the earlier webinar. He highlighted the need for reliable operational data, aligned emissions methodologies (ISO 14083, GLEC), and incentive frameworks that can support meaningful transition across use cases. 

Panel Discussion: 

• Moderated by Angjelo Andoni (ALICE)  
• Andrea Condotta, (GRUBER Logistics) 
• David Cebon, (Centre for Sustainable Road Freight CSRF) 
• Stelios Doulgeris, (EMISIA) 
• Fernando Liesa (ALICE) 

The workshop reinforced that while EFVs are increasingly viable, their competitiveness is highly dependent on route profiles, vehicle design, infrastructure access, and policy support. Charging remains the central bottleneck – both in terms of energy availability at logistics depots and in integrating charging into operational schedules without impacting service levels. 

A number of operational and technical questions were raised by participants and addressed during the discussion: 

1. Freight vehicles consumption is strongly load dependent. Shouldn’t we permanently update the vehicle model by live consumption measurements? 
2. How accurate are the VECTO models compared to actual energy consumption in actual operations? 
3. Will road transport be more expensive (e.g. penalties for OEMs missing the targets, ETS II, EURO VIGNETTE, others). 
4. Do we see battery technology improving fast enough to reduce logistics penalties sufficiently? 
5. We hear that battery swapping is fairly common in China, so what are the differences that influence the different choices between Europe and China? 
6. Will measuring and reporting transport emissions move from voluntary to obligatory schemes due to new legislative files? 
7. How do you currently estimate the energy consumption of a vehicle for an upcoming route? 
8. How are you currently scheduling the charging moments of your EV fleet? 

Participants also discussed the upcoming CountEmissions EU regulation and the need to prepare now for emissions reporting obligations. Initiatives like the CLEVER project are working to harmonise emissions factors, and EU-funded efforts such as ZEFES, FLEXMCS, and MACBETH are laying the groundwork for large-scale adoption. 

A full summary report, including key takeaways and speaker insights, is available to ALICE members on the Knowledge Platform. 

Interested in contributing to this work or joining upcoming TG1 activities? Contact: info@etp-logistics.eu