We can be in no doubt that electric trucks are the future and it’s simply a matter of how long until electric power predominates. The amount of investment by all of the major manufacturers in electric power technology is running at a rate which tells us they all believe in an electric future.
There have been a number of stories about developing electric power in Australia. SEA are putting electric power systems into trucks in Dandenong, Victoria. Customers buy a conventionally powered model, remove the diesel engine and replace it with the new powertrain.
Daimler Trucks are the first to have a truck designed to run on electric power in a truck on the roads of Australia. This Fuso eCanter was first seen on display at the Brisbane Truck Show back in May and has remained in the country to be tested by prospective big fleet customers, to examine the new truck’s potential in our market.
This is the type of truck we can expect to see going over to electric power when it first arrives in any numbers. Urban small parcel distribution. The trucks doing this work spend the day in a stop/go world and never stray too far from home base.
We know electric trucks are the future and once electric power establishes itself in this part of the market we can expect the technology to move up the weight range into the heavier medium duty distribution truck, before moving into the heavier rigids plying their trade around the streets of our cities.
It is true that battery technology is moving forward in leaps and bounds, with more storage in lighter units, with faster charging. The other factor is also that with these new batteries being sold in relatively low numbers, the cost per battery is very high. We are in a chicken and egg situation, the price of batteries will drop when the manufacturers are selling them in the hundreds of thousands and people will buy them in hundreds of thousands when the price comes down. READ MORE
Diesel News, 31 October 2019
