Insight: For utilization and economics, the business case lives or dies on asset productivity For MHD fleets, electrification only pays off when trucks stay busy, maintain payload margins and power is bought optimally. In other words, fixed costs are high, variable savings are real and utilization is a key fulcrum. The TCO gap is often material versus diesel for long-haul use cases in the short-term, without incentives. That gap narrows as miles stack up, batteries and power electronics become cheaper and electricity is procured on smarter tariffs. If the truck is doing over roughly 70,000 kilometres a year, we can make it the same price as the diesel. Utilization really is the key to success on this. Nicholas Mazzei, Vice President Sustainability, DP World In real operations, the fleets that make the maths work design lanes for repeatability (hub-to-hub, back-to-base), deepen daily mileage and avoid under-using large-capacity battery packs. Field analysis of 91 electric tractor-trailers in 2025, conducted by the International Council on Clean Transportation, found that battery under-utilization (e.g. ~44% average depth of battery discharge) increased TCO, while higher daily distances plus off-peak pricing or lower utility cost for electricity improved economics.60 An additional utilization lever is time. When a supplier evaluates the upfront cost of procuring an electric truck relative to purchasing a diesel internal combustion engine at time of purchase, they are deterred by the BET’s premium. This cost discrepancy narrows as the time interval in which the BET operates grows. However, this highlights the suppliers’ dilemma and the temptation to hesitate before procuring BETs – given that second- or third-generation BET technology may shorten the time interval of this payback period further. While the upfront cost of acquiring an electric truck is roughly double that of a conventional diesel truck, the lower operating expenses over a seven-year period result in a full payback. However, ongoing advancements in battery technology may affect future cost and performance considerations. Shaun O’Flaherty, Global Head of Products & Solutions, Toll Group Moreover, a powerful near-term utilization lever is not necessarily a new connector (the physical charging interface and its standard) but “orchestration” of the charging system itself. In practice, charging system orchestration for BETs means systematically coordinating when, where and how trucks charge to reduce demand peaks, minimize wait times and lower per -mile energy costs. When fleets and stations coordinate charging as a system, under-utilization rates and power costs can decrease. Additionally, joint routing and charging (JRC) optimization for heavy trucks shows the potential for synchronizing stops with station capacity and charger power to lower system cost, which is exactly what many utilization-driven operators want.61 Inside the fence, depot scheduling has delivered outsized wins without touching hardware: one 2024 optimization model of an MHD depot comparing optimized to managed scenarios found a reduction in peak-hour energy demand of 64-75% monthly, corresponding to roughly 53-63% reduction in variable costs – these are savings that carry to the P&L.62 At portfolio scale, pairing managed charging with onsite distributed energy resources (DERs), such as solar power and battery storage, can reduce fleet electricity bills by up to 30% while easing interconnection stress, turning “the power bill” from a risk into a controllable line item.63 The US Government’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has documented how actively managed charging (direct load control) can avoid or defer costly grid and distribution upgrades by controlling when and how vehicles charge to keep depot load under electrical capacity limits – another way that orchestration moves the economics.64 For logistics companies operating on extremely thin margins, even a slight increase in pricing can be prohibitive. Addressing the green premium remains a significant challenge. Manosij Ganguli, Group Chief Sustainability Officer, Aramex Turning Challenge into Opportunity: Supplier Voices from Heavy-Emitting Sectors 25

Turning Challenge into Opportunity 2025