The blast on the horn sounds conspicously loud against the relative silence of the Freightliner Coronado on this Central Coast, NSW, street.
That’s because this isn’t just any ordinary Coronado you’ll see plying the popular freight routes up and down the east coast in coming weeks, not by a longshot.
This is the first road-ready prime mover from Janus Electric, the Australian company behind cutting-edge battery technology it hopes will revolutionise the freight industry here.
Janus director Bevan Dooley shared the video below of the battery-powered 70 tonne GVM Coronado at the weekend, ahead of plans to make units available for trial by fleets in March.
The company will offer new prime movers installed with its Janus Conversion Model (JCM) as well as converting existing diesel trucks for fleets that are due for an engine replacement or overhaul.
General manager Lex Forsyth tells Big Rigs he only has to confirm a location for the Grafton change-and-charge station along the east coast, with sites for Brisbane, Port Macquarie and Sydney battery swaps already locked in.
Janus has also secured a site at Port Augusta in Adelaide, and has plans to expand down and across to Melbourne.
Depending on what the prime mover is towing, Forsyth says it will get 500-600km range for a single trailer, or 400-500km for a B-double.
He estimates the cost of running a Janus-powered B-double from Sydney to Brisbane will be as little as $320.