Looking at the different segments into which zero emission trucks are going to be sold, the obvious target market for alternative power is going to be the urban delivery segment which represents the largest share of new truck sales in Australia.
These trucks go all the way from the four and a half tonne small pantech delivering goods around the city centres to the heavier trucks involved in the distribution of supplies for supermarkets, service stations and the rest of the urban economy. Plus there are large construction fleets involved in building projects and large infrastructure projects ,which are happening all across our major cities.
All of these vehicles tend to work on back to base working models. Often they will go out in the morning, do their work all day, come back to a depot at night, this is where the battery electric truck (BET) comes into its own.
If the vehicle is spending a daily period where it’s at back at base, where it can be charged completely, then this is the this is where a BET will work most effectively.
The next segment to look at is what’s commonly called intrastate. This is basically medium distance transport, which will be hauling freight across cities, but also from cities out into regional areas and between regional areas across Australia.
These trucks will on average, travel greater distances each day than the city trucks. Theymay or may not be able to return back to base every day in order to charge up. In this segment of the market BETs can be effective, but may not be able to be able to provide a solution for all of those freight tasks in this segment of the market.
Then there’s the long distance, long haul trucking environment where vehicles are running freight from capital to capital as well as distributing along rural routes, to regional towns. Then there are the trucks hauling between capital cities and distributing freight interstate capital.
These different segments do not cover the entire trucking industry, but due to cover a very large part of it. Other, more specialist, segments include all of the resources industries which work in remote areas, with high masses, but often on strictly limited routes from mine sites to port, or from ports to industrial areas.
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