It’s no secret that carrying more freight per trip means fewer trucks to transport the same load.
As such, the Australian Trucking Association (ATA) is urging the Australian Government to support the increased use of high productivity vehicles as a key part of its net zero roadmap for transport.
Today ATA CEO Mathew Munro released the association’s response to the Government’s Transport and Infrastructure Net Zero Consultation Roadmap.
“A fleet of 36.5 metre A-doubles would use 72 per cent of the fuel and only need half the number of trips to move the same payload compared to a semitrailer fleet,” he said.
“These fewer trips would produce lower carbon emissions, supporting the government’s environmental targets, and operating fewer trucks would result in less wear on infrastructure.
“Supporting high productivity vehicles would be an immediate step that would deliver immediate benefits, with other options requiring the turnover of the existing diesel truck fleet, new infrastructure or production facilities, or the further development of technology.”
Munro said the ATA would also like to see the Australian Government create a policy environment that facilitated maximum innovation in alternative fuels.
“The evolution pathways for alternative fuel heavy vehicle technologies are unclear,” he said.
“The Government should remain fuel agnostic and be open to a mixture of alternative fuels and technologies including combustible and hydrogen fuel cell options.”
The ATA believes the government should encourage alternative fuels like renewable diesel.
“Alternative fuels offer significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels. Renewable diesel, produced from renewable feedstocks such as oilseed crops, can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 63 to 77 per cent compared to petroleum diesel,” Munro added.
hpv are destroying our roads. Its not the weight they carry but the pneumatic/hydraulic action of so many axle groups so quickly on the road . the action of the wheels triples in the wet , the first tyres push the water into the road the next sucks it out the next pushes the water in and so on . its not rocket science to see why the roads are falling apart but they only see if the truck can turn the corner, not the pneumatic action of airbag axles. l remember when we went from spreader bogies to tri axles and the outcry back then .