Mastodawn

Current situation re electric trucks in Australia, where lots of stuff moves long distances (quoting James Purtill’s ABC article) : “ About a fifth of trucks in Australia are prime movers used for "line haul" long-distance bulk transportation of freight between cities and towns.

“”Battery-powered models are available but have limited applications, Mr Hammond [the Trucking Industry Council's (TIC) chief technical officer] said.

"You'd be lucky to get 300 kilometres on any of the major transport routes before you need probably a two-hour recharge," he said.

More powerful chargers would reduce this time but place a greater strain on the regional power network.

The amount of power required to recharge an electric road train in the space of an hour was about equivalent to that of a small commercial building, which would be more than some towns' spare capacity.

Hundreds of dedicated charging depots would need to be built to electrify intercity freight, and this would be expensive.” [end quote]

#electricTrucks #Australia #AusPol #dieselTrucks #diesel #EVs #truckingIndustry

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2026-04-09/record-sales-of-electric-trucks-price-parity/106526476

A wave of low-cost electric trucks is heading for Australia

Diesel trucks are the backbone of the national supply chain, but figures buried in recent sales data could mark the beginning of the end for these kings of the road.

@Su_G I wonder about the role of current & new Renewable Energy Zones (REZ) in electrification of transport? Energy for long-distance transport energy could return more benefits locally.
https://www.energyco.nsw.gov.au/living-in-a-renewable-energy-zone/what-is-a-rez

What's a renewable energy zone? | EnergyCo

Find out what renewable energy zones are, how they work, and why they matter to your community.

EnergyCo

@Goimbla
Hey that sounds interesting!! Just dipped into the reference you provided & look forward to reading it more slowly… I’m in South Australia (SA) & I don’t think we have anything like it here … so far! Thanks for sharing! 🙏🏻

Cloudslave 1d ago

@Goimbla @Su_G
Fascinating article in the Saturday Paper about a functioning electric heavy truck co that hauls steel from Kembla to the Hunter 40 mins quicker than the smoke brigade and return on a single charge, renewably sourced. They leave diesel rigs standing on the Mt Ousley climb. Bridget McKenzie of the Nationals insists this is impossible. OK they are heavy and expensive but the capex is quickly paid off thru lower operating costs. Also not dependent on war-choked expensive oil and easier on climate change. https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/economy/2026/04/11/b-doubling-down-electric-trucks

B-doubling down on electric trucks

Bridget McKenzie, the National Party’s leader in the Senate, was contemptuous. During an urgency motion on March 30 about the government’s response to the global fuel crisis, she fired up over suggestions that Australia should look at electrifying the country’s heavy vehicle fleet. “To hear the ridiculous contributions from the Labor Party senators, who somehow think you can hook up a B-double full of cattle, coming down from Rockhampton to Brisbane, and actually use an electric truck? Seriously?”

The Saturday Paper

@Cloudslave
Terrific article & overview of so much stuff already going on - much of which will now be accelerated & not before time. Thanks very much gor sharing & drawing attention to it. Mike Seccombe, national treasure. Bridget McKenzie, Angus Taylor: hugging the past, fail.

ChookMother 🇦🇺🦘1d ago

@Su_G The guy quoted seems unaware that electric trucks now available can go 500km without a recharge. They pull faster up hills. One maker at least is doing swappable batteries - only takes a few minutes to get a fully charged battery. This information is readily available from online news sources.

@anne_twain
Swappable batteries - excellent idea (don’t think it was mentioned but def way to go, esp for long haul). Doubtless many more improvements possible once we get started on this ‘journey’. The info on China’s recent developments is pretty interesting too. 🙂
Thanks for sharing! 🙏🏻

ChookMother 🇦🇺🦘1d ago

@Su_G The ABC have published a few articles recently on electric trucks, and it seems like every positive article is followed by one that talks them down. I suppose this is their idea of "balance".

@Su_G https://januselectric.com/

They're not the only heavy vehicle battery swap operation, but they have trucks on the road in Australia.

It makes a lot more sense for trucking fleets to battery swap than it does solo car owners.

Especially given Australia's hatred of trains, especially electric freight trains. So we run thousands of trucks long haul between major cities. Exactly the highways battery swap stations would work best on.

Janus Electric

@moz
Really interesting that it’s already happening! So true: “makes a lot more sense for trucking fleets to battery swap than it does solo car owners.” Thanks for sharing that!! 🙏🏻

ABC article talks about how China’s really got a wriggle on with the 2nd generation of electric trucks designed from the ground up (rather than retro-fitted) but always good to have options & we have lots of small trucks as well as semis & prime movers. 🙂

@Su_G @moz So what does Australia have against diesel trains and intermodal transport? That seems to work ok in the USA. We have lousy passenger rail but the freight system works.

Has anyone considered a battery electric train that uses electrified track only for hills? Trains are pretty efficient on the flat land; most of the power required is for hill climbing.

@mike805
Good questions! 🤔 “So what does Australia have against diesel trains and intermodal transport? That seems to work ok in the USA. We have lousy passenger rail but the freight system works.

Has anyone considered a battery electric train that uses electrified track only for hills? Trains are pretty efficient on the flat land; most of the power required is for hill climbing.”

Probably need train experts & engineers for answers… 🤔

@Su_G @mike805 there are a few battery electric trains. One in Queensland in a heritage railway, the UK uses them for short non-electrified stretches where there's not enough traffic to justify proper electrification.

There's also a mine in WA that uses the difference between loaded weight downhill and unloaded uphill to hopefully never need to charge the locos :)

As usual it's not the technology that's lacking.

@moz @Su_G In the USA some electric railroads went to diesel. The diesels improved while the electrical infrastructure was a multiple of the cost of track.

Just thinking a train is pretty efficient on level ground. You could have battery cars behind the locomotive, park the battery cars on sidings to charge where power is available, and have electrified track only on grades.

That might be a lot more cost effective than fully electric freight rail. Also makes a good dispatchable load for solar.

@mike805
Sounds like a really good idea to me!: 🤗
“Just thinking a train is pretty efficient on level ground. You could have battery cars behind the locomotive, park the battery cars on sidings to charge where power is available, and have electrified track only on grades.

“That might be a lot more cost effective than fully electric freight rail. Also makes a good dispatchable load for solar.”

Clearly the pros & cons & efficiencies etc of train vs long haul truck vs urban delivery truck & so on are very different, but suspect that, given the addition of solar & battery, there’s an increasing number of neat solutions now coming on line. Potentially very exciting!🤗

Thanks for sharing your thoughts re trains; the current situation could be just what freight trains need to have a rennaisance!

@moz

@mike805 @Su_G mostly that the subsidies for roads are baked in and no-one really thinks of them in those terms. Politicians are more likely to boast "we spend $X billion upgrading the highway" than to talk about cost recovery, let alone whether the road (transport) system is profitable.

But rail? There's no profit in rail, don't be stupid. Rail is a cost!

The Inland Freight Corridor project is a huge project that will improve things a lot unless the far right parties cancel or gut it (NBN?)

Cloudslave 1d ago

@moz @Su_G
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/economy/2026/04/11/b-doubling-down-electric-trucks

B-doubling down on electric trucks

Bridget McKenzie, the National Party’s leader in the Senate, was contemptuous. During an urgency motion on March 30 about the government’s response to the global fuel crisis, she fired up over suggestions that Australia should look at electrifying the country’s heavy vehicle fleet. “To hear the ridiculous contributions from the Labor Party senators, who somehow think you can hook up a B-double full of cattle, coming down from Rockhampton to Brisbane, and actually use an electric truck? Seriously?”

The Saturday Paper

BrisWombat 1d ago

@Su_G That article, and this one: https://archive.is/d4x9x - both come across as failure from our elected governments so far to get cracking on the infrastructure to support the now-significant growth in EV Trucking.
Considering 4/5 of trucking is urban, mandating EV-only zones within a set timeframe would hasten private truck charging infrastructure as well as government back installs.
Carrot AND stick looks to be the way.

@WhombeX
Fair comment: “failure from our elected governments so far to get cracking on the infrastructure” (& not only in this area, the infrastructure always seems to lag & be a brake on significant transformations). 😐

Agree that “Carrot AND stick looks to be the way.”. Suspect we’ll see a lot happen in a hurry now… 🤔

Mike Seccombe’s article a great read! “Daniel Bleakley, co-founder and co-chief executive of New Energy Transport … says the economics of electric trucks actually get better with heavier loads and longer distances.” (All to do with high capex but low opex. Their plans god Picton sound great - integrating solar power & using battery to siphon at peak production times; solid infra developments.)

Thanks for the reference, for engaging & for your comments! 🙏🏻

Cloudslave 1d ago

@Su_G
Mr Hammond is a liar. https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/economy/2026/04/11/b-doubling-down-electric-trucks

B-doubling down on electric trucks

Bridget McKenzie, the National Party’s leader in the Senate, was contemptuous. During an urgency motion on March 30 about the government’s response to the global fuel crisis, she fired up over suggestions that Australia should look at electrifying the country’s heavy vehicle fleet. “To hear the ridiculous contributions from the Labor Party senators, who somehow think you can hook up a B-double full of cattle, coming down from Rockhampton to Brisbane, and actually use an electric truck? Seriously?”

The Saturday Paper

@Cloudslave
Maybe Mr Hammond is just not totally up to date… a bit like Bridget McKenzie… It seems there are a LOT of pretty recent developments, & the swappable batteries is just one of them. 🙂

RaymondPierreL3 1d ago

@Su_G
Wouldn’t take a genius to make a business out of btty swap stations, just as he #fosilfuel industry did with petrol stations. All we need is national btty unit standards… #AlboPM #ChrisBowen

@RaymondPierreL3
Another great idea that would bump up the infrastructure offerings! That’s something like what this guy is doing (for prime-movers, in Picton area, between Sydney & Wollongong): “Daniel Bleakley, co-founder and co-chief executive of New Energy Transport… says the economics of electric trucks actually get better with heavier loads and longer distances.”

https://archive.is/d4x9x

Chris Goss 23h ago

Trucks with replaceable batteries are already a thing enabling operators to have another battery ready to go at their terminus.

Australian trucking operators are considering switching to them right now.

This ABC article is misleadingly out of date.
Intentional or incompetent?