Australia’s leading express and freight transport company Toll Group has deployed its first 100%electric truck in the country to be used for parcel pick-ups and deliveries around Brisbane.
The company’s express road freight division Toll IPEC will test the 10-tonne Smith Electricvehicle during an initial three-month trial to see how the vehicle performs in Australianconditions and to assess the operating costs.
The zero-emission vehicle has a range of up to 200km driving at a speed of 95km/h on aLithium-ion 80kW battery which requires 5-6 hours overnight charge.
Toll Group Environment and Energy General Manager Nick Prescott said: “Improving emissions,safety and energy consumption and costs also benefits our customers. That’s why we offerlower-carbon choices through our technology, fuels and energy efficiency initiatives.”
Toll will use data from on-board diagnostics that can be viewed online to monitor the vehicles’performance in real-time.
“Smith Electric has been able to develop a product that makes absolute commercial sense, and we’r e honoured Australia’s leading transport and logistics company, Toll, were so keen to be the firstto use it,” said Tony Fairweather, Managing Director of Patico Automotive, exclusive distributor ofthe Smith Electric range in the Oceania region.
The Smith Electric adds to the many CNG, LNG and hybrid vehicles Toll operates in Australia andworldwide. It is part of the company’s broader Smarter Green environmental programme focusing onthe use of smarter fuels such as biodiesels, compressed natural gas and electric vehicles in caseswhere it makes sense in operational and economical terms.
