The first 200 tons of steel were delivered to ArcelorMittal Poland customers on the wheels of... an electric truck! The vehicle traveled from Silesia to Krakow and back, and covered a total distance of over 1,000 km in 5 days. The week-long pilot allowed for the reduction of CO2 emissions from the company's land transport by over 1.5 tons. This is the first test of this type at ArcelorMittal in Europe.
ArcelorMittal Europe aims to reduce its CO2 emissions in Europe by 35% by 2030, and by 2050 it wants to achieve climate neutrality in this region. - Investments in changing the production process are one thing, but it is impossible to decarbonize our company by omitting such an important factor as the supply chain. Road transport is an important part of this huge challenge and with this test we prove that we are doing everything to be prepared for the change and implementation of CO2 emission reduction goals when electric delivery vehicles become generally available - emphasizes Grzegorz Kotarba, Senior Lead Buyer Road Logistic for ArcelorMittal Poland, responsible for pilot steel deliveries by electric truck.
In September (Volvo FH Electric) a truck rented for testing traveled for a week between the company's unit in Kraków, from where it transported steel coils to ArcelorMittal Distriution Solution (AMDS) in Bytom – unit of the group dealing with the processing and distribution of products to customers, and then went to the unit in Świętochłowice, where it collected the products intended for further processing at the Krakow AMDS.
An electric truck equipped with eight batteries made 10 trips in 5 working days and covered a total distance of over 1,000 km! – During this time it transported over 200 tons of finished steel products to us - hot-rolled galvanized coils, which were then delivered to external customers. The route from the unites to us was planned in such a way as to optimize battery consumption and the driver's working time, which is why the truck traveled “in circles” - explains Marek Dolina, chairman of the management board of ArcelorMittal Distribution Solutions Poland Sp. z o. o.
The route was optimized as much as possible because the truck was almost constantly in use - the empty mileage within one "circle" was only 5 km - this was the distance needed to travel from AMDS Bytom to the ArcelorMittal Poland unit in Świętochłowice. The car used the driver's mandatory break time to recharge the battery. Piotr Lech, quality manager from the ArcelorMittal Poland unit in Świętochłowice, introduced the driver to the rules regarding occupational health and safety and loading on the company's premises.
– I'm going to retire in a few weeks. In my career, I have seen many changes that have occurred in our company over the years, but I never expected that I would witness such a groundbreaking event. I didn't think that our steel would be transported by an electric truck and that I would be the first employee of our company who had the opportunity to sit in the passenger seat and accompany the driver during the first trips around our plant - says Piotr Lech.
ArcelorMittal Poland has completed the week-long tests but it is possible that another pilot will be carried out in winter to test this type of transport in more difficult weather conditions but also using vehicles of other brands and with a different battery configuration.
- Every step, even a small one, every test project or pilot, brings us closer to success on the road to decarbonization of the steel industry. I am extremely proud of our Polish team, which was the first in the ArcelorMittal Group in Europe to undertake this task and test the transport of our products in an electric delivery vehicle - says Wojciech Koszuta, CEO of ArcelorMittal Poland. – We have a long way to go before a possible transition to electric transport, we must remember the challenges we face in the area of energy and infrastructure, but I believe that electricity is the future in short-distance logistics and internal transport, which allows us to make the most of the possibilities of electric vehicles – he notes.
Deliveries exclusively by electric transport are still a distant future. The new solution is currently very expensive and public infrastructure for passenger cars must be used to charge trucks. However, in the next few or a dozen years, this should be a more available option for industrial enterprises.
- This is a very bold undertaking that fits well into the development of sustainable, ecological transport - says prof. Magdalena Dudek from the Faculty of Energy and Fuels, Department of Sustainable Energy Development at AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow. - In the future, the challenge will be logistics and providing charging points for this type of vehicles using electricity produced from renewable energy sources. Depending on how the transport sector develops, an interesting option for longer distances may also be the use of hydrogen and fuel cells to build electric drive units in the future. Of course, it depends on the direction of development of the hydrogen economy, the prices of hydrogen and fuel cells - she adds.
