The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) has taken the Volvo FM Electric, with water tanker in tow, on a 550-kilometre test run.
The electric prime mover and tanker combination travelled from the NSW RFS’s Glendenning logistics headquarters in NSW to the border city of Albury – arriving to be displayed at the NSW RFS Championships in the suburb of Thurgoona.
The aim of the test run was to help NSW RFS better understand how low emissions vehicles can be integrated into its emergency services fleets in the future.
The driving team consisted of RFS logistics manager Inspector Brendan Doyle, and RFS logistics and transport supervisor Peter Duff.
The pair shared driving duties over the route to assess the performance and driveability of the vehicle, as well as the heavy vehicle charging experience.
“This drive presented a great opportunity for us to touch, feel and experience an electric prime mover on public roads,” said Doyle.
“It also allows us to consider where a vehicle like this could fill roles within our logistics fleet in the future.”
Over the course of the trip, the truck averaged 88.7 km/h with an energy consumption of 1.24kWh/km.
The required charging time was 120 minutes to complete the 6.2 hour trip, with stops made at Goulburn and Tarcutta.
“The driving experience was sensational,” added Duff, “One of the key takeaways for me was that you could take anyone familiar with an existing Volvo truck and they’d be able to drive this without additional training at all.”
Volvo Group Australia vice president, governmental sales, Cameron Bettany, says there has been a lot of interest in battery electric trucks from fire and emergency services around the country.
“Fire and emergency services are on the front line when it comes the impact of climate change on our local environment,” Cameron said.
“Many in these services are acutely aware of the need to reduce emissions, not only from a climate perspective, but also from a health and safety perspective for those first responders.
“Emergency services operate in a complex environment and with that a mix of technology types will be required to enable sustainable operational capability. Battery electric trucks are a key part of this mix.
“It’s fantastic to see RFS getting out there and investigating how these vehicles perform in a real-world setting.”
Volvo Trucks Australia now offers an electric equivalent for its entire range of diesel-powered vehicles.