November 23, 2021
Tony Fairweather has seen the way delivery truck fleets can transform with the vision of sustainability.
The president of electric commercial vehicle manufacturer SEA Electric moved in 2019 from Australia to the US, where government requirements are forcing change.
“The Advanced Clean Truck regulation has been mandated by 15 US states, resulting in forced electrification of trucks over time,” he says.
“States like California, Colorado, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey all have exciting and substantive programs to financially incentivise fleets to procure zero emission vehicles.
“These programs often require the destruction of an old diesel engine in return. Very smart.”
Australia’s logistics industry is on a mission to reduce carbon emissions amid a global push to tackle the challenges of decarbonising the national supply chain.
Amid net-zero targets being adopted globally, and some US and European jurisdictions pushing for greater ambition on carbon, Australia’s transport and logistics industries are innovating to accelerate change.
Considered one of the hard questions in sustainability, logistics and transport companies are pushing for greater efficiency and sustainability across their fleets, warehouses and operations.
Electrification with renewable energy is playing a part, as well as intelligent transport systems, automation, and growing urbanisation.
Hydrogen-cell powered vehicles are expected to play a major role in the future. The vehicle touted as Australia’s first hydrogen-cell heavy truck is set to be delivered to Coregas by Hyzon Motors next year.
In order to bring about change more recharging and refuelling stations are required, according to industry, as well as incentives to transform the nation’s fleets.
Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor says the Australian government has a “technology-led approach to reducing road transport emissions that would start with fleets”.
“The Morrison Government wants to support those in our trucking, resources and agriculture sectors to reduce emissions while growing their businesses, including in relation to transport,” he says.
“Through our Future Fuels Fund, we will co-invest with industry in enabling infrastructure and fleet technologies, including in the logistics sector. This $71.9m fund is part of the more than $1.4bn the government has already committed to increase the uptake of future fuels technologies.”
Australian-devised SEA Electric is bringing electric options to commercial fleets, supplying delivery trucks to IKEA, tipper trucks to the ACT government, and trucks to Fulton Hogan and ORIX Australia Fleet Management.
Mr Fairweather says their 100 per cent electric SEA-Drive technology across a range of commercial vehicles has reduced Australian CO2 emissions about 4000 tonnes over the past decade.
“Due to projected uptake rates increasing, we see this saving increasing substantially throughout 2022,” he says.
“Once fleets start trialling electric commercial delivery vehicles, they – and their drivers – never want to return to an ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicle.
“The linear acceleration and deceleration, zero noise and zero diesel fumes are some of many reasons drivers love an electric option.”
Electrification is one of the high-profile ways transport and logistics companies are aiming for sustainability. Carbon emissions from transport contribute about 27 per cent of the global CO2 output.
The sustainability efforts come at a time of heightened global awareness of freight demand and supply chains.
While it’s said the best supply chains are those that are invisible, since Covid-19 global transport has been talked about at the highest levels of international trade and politics.
‘The linear acceleration and deceleration, zero noise and zero diesel fumes are some of many reasons drivers love an electric option.’
– Tony Fairweather, presdient SEA Electric
In mid-October, the US President Joe Biden announced America’s largest container port, the Port of Los Angeles, and other operators would operate 24/7 to clear a backlog of dozens of ships and trucking queues threatening to disrupt Christmas retail.
“This is not called a supply chain for nothing,” Mr Biden said. “Our goal is not only to get through this immediate bottleneck but to address the longstanding weaknesses in our transportation supply chain that this pandemic has exposed.”
Port closures in China, factories across Vietnam and South Korea, and transport companies around the world struggled with access to materials and parts, flowing on to shortages on our shelves.
In Australia, the spike in e-commerce demand propelled the freight task, which was already on track to grow 4.6 per cent each year. Urban freight was tipped to grow 60 per cent by 2040 according to pre-pandemic figures.
Dovetailing with the rise in demand, Australia had about 1 million fewer workers over the past 18 months thanks to reduced immigration from closed international borders combined with people leaving work.
Together, this has meant a shortage of workers that has added further pressure on the industry.
The Australian government, together with industry and the states and territories, had already started rolling out the National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy to coordinate and increase productivity pre-Covid.
This is vital to meet the anticipated growth in demand for freight of 35 per cent on 2018 volumes. It included scenario planning to identify possible future settings, including impacts of climate change.
In Australia about 20 per cent of emissions stem from transport, including passenger transport. Emissions are growing with increased demand for freight services.
Australian Logistics Council chief executive Brad Williams says industries have an important role to play to help Australia meet its international obligations.
“It is a challenge,” he says. “We do have to change. It’s a transition and it’s a journey. It’s not a dramatic overnight shift.”
From the 1970s to the late 2000s, the trucking industry made productivity gains of more than 600 per cent with the widespread adoption of B-double heavy vehicles.
Australian Trucking Association Transport and Infrastructure adviser Sam Marks says those gains have had a major impact on reducing emissions.
“Without the decades of productivity improvement, such as the B-double, an additional 150,000 articulated trucks would have been needed in addition to the 70,000 that were registered for use in 2007,” he says.
“A B-double reduces the emissions impact by about 18 per cent, while a B-triple can reduce it by 31 per cent. You can move more freight per truck, there are less truck trips to get the job done.”
Since then, the gains have stalled. Now companies are looking to find the next wave of improvements.
Last month transport and logistics operator Linfox launched its first refrigerated electric vehicle into the Woolworths Group fleet.
Using four batteries to achieve an energy capacity of 200kW/h, the Volvo-manufactured FL Electric is one of two of its kind in Australia and the only refrigerated truck. It can carry eight pallets, weighing about four tonnes in total.
Linfox executive chairman Peter Fox said in a statement that the company had halved its 2007 greenhouse gas emissions levels.
“Today we are not just interested in making our own business practices greener, we are committed to helping our customers act sustainably, too,” he said.
“Linfox is proud to lead the way in the adoption of electric vehicles as we strive to meet our zero emission targets and support our customers to do the same.”
The vehicle was manufactured at Volvo’s southeast Queensland facility. It can travel up to 200km on a single charge and can recharge during brake use or when travelling downhill.
While the Linfox/Woolworths vehicle has an energy capacity of 200kW/h, future trucks will have a 265kW/h capability due to increasing battery technology.
Volvo Group Australia’s vice president Emerging Technologies and Business Development Paul Illmer says there is a broad push for transport businesses to reduce their emissions.
“Our customers are seeking pathways to decarbonise their business now that zero emission transport solutions are becoming available,” he says.
Each FL truck has been estimated to save about 34,000 tonnes of CO2 per 50,000km, taking into account vehicle manufacturing, use and end of life.
Mr Illmer says the process to transition to electric vehicles is achievable for heavy vehicle fleets. Their trucks can travel up to about 200km.
“At Volvo Trucks we start with a pre-study which includes a detailed route analysis to determine optimum applications. This takes care of range anxiety up front and places the right truck into the right freight task. It’s easier than you may think.”
‘It is a hard sector to decarbonise but the technological solutions are now coming.’
– Sam Marks, infrastructure adviser ATA Transport
The only impediments, he says, are access to long-range recharging infrastructure along the popular freight routes.
“As with any significant technology introduction, total cost of ownership support is critical in the market development to speed up the transition,” Illmer says.
“The faster the transition, the broader the model availability becomes and charging availability increases. We have seen this in many European markets. It’s the chicken and the egg scenario.”
At Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, the major manufacturer and logistics operator has an ambition to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy and net zero direct carbon emissions by 2040.
The Coca-Cola Company also has a target of net-zero emissions by 2050 across its entire value chain.
Vice president and general manager, Australia, Pacific and Indonesia, Peter West, says they are working with third-party logistics providers for the 2050 target.
“We’ve started engaging with suppliers to explore the potential pathways to decarbonising the distribution fleet in a technology agnostic way,” he says.
“Internally, our logistics teams are focusing on route efficiencies to minimise distances travelled and reduce fuel burned, and mode switching where practical to replace road transport with rail and sea freight.”
This “intermodal shift” to reduce the burden of trucks on the road – and their emissions – is one of the ways freight will change its emissions profile amid growing demand.
Australian Rail Track Corporation Interim CEO Rebecca Pickering says sustainability was an underlying driver of the Melbourne to Brisbane rail mega-project.
“Our mission really is simply to create a railways network around Australia that entices that modal shift,” she says.
“That is our contribution to sustainability in Australia. It is a big part of the case for Inland Rail. It will save 750,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.”
Another element is accelerating emerging technologies.
Earlier this year, the Australian government released its This Future Fuels Strategy discussion paper, outlining their direction and actions to allow the development of low-emissions road transport at scale.
It suggests a program of competitive grants to support heavy road-freight companies to assess new technologies such as aerodynamic aids for trucks, new engine technologies, alternative fuels and telematics systems to improve driving efficiency.
The program will be delivered through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), which earlier this year announced $25m for more than 400 fast-charging stations for electric vehicles under the Future Fuels Fund.
Greater electric vehicle uptake is also being encouraged by a new partnership between the Australian Trucking Association and the Electric Vehicle Council.
ATA’s Sam Marks says industry needs to accelerate change to bring forward the time when zero-emission trucks were a cost-competitive option for trucking operators.
He says in broad figures electric trucks are about 50 per cent more in upfront costs now, while hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are at least double the diesel equivalent.
“It is a hard sector to decarbonise but the technological solutions are now coming,” he says.
“This will create economic opportunities with the potential to improve urban freight efficiency and to reduce the significant running costs for a trucking business, as well as improving urban air quality and improving conditions for the truck driver, as well.”
