Two of the country’s largest transport operators will receive millions in government funding, which will go towards the purchase of battery electric trucks and charging infrastructure.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced $100 million in funding will be available under the Driving the Nation program to support transitioning heavy vehicles to electric.
ARENA is an independent agency established by the Australian government to manage the country’s renewable energy programs.
However ARENA will also separately provide Toll and Linfox with a shared $28.6 million in funding for two projects.
Linfox will receive $19.6 million to deploy 26 battery electric trucks and charging infrastructure across three distribution centres in Queensland, South Australia and Victoria.
The trucks will be deployed over three years to a range of customers across metropolitan and regional routes, aiming to validate the performance of heavy EV trucks over longer distances, multiple duty cycles per day and at scale.
Linfox CEO Australia and New Zealand, Mark Mazurek commented, “As an early adopter of electric vehicles, Linfox is proud to be partnering with the Federal Government to grow our electric fleet and accelerate efforts to decarbonise the logistics and supply chain in Australia.”
While Toll will receive up to $9 million in funding to support its $67 million ‘Project TruckVolt’ which will roll out 28 battery electric trucks and the establishment of at least 30 new charging ports across eight customer sites and two Toll facilities.
The investment will add 10 Volvo FM electric prime movers and 18 Volvo FE electric rigids to Toll’s fleet, with an upfront capital expenditure of $20.3 million.
The fleet of battery electric vehicles will be integrated into Toll’s third-party logistics operations servicing key customers including Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Woolworths, Bluescope and Origin Energy.
According to Toll Group managing director Alan Beacham, the project is one of the largest corporate investments in heavy electric vehicles in Australia, putting Toll at the forefront of the country’s logistics decarbonisation efforts.
“The funding from ARENA supports an important part of our broader strategy to optimise the environmental sustainability of our operations, and we’re delighted to be supporting our customers through a shared commitment to decarbonising their supply chains without needing to rely solely on carbon offsets.
“We’re excited at the prospect of expanding electrification across a larger portion of our fleet over time.”
ARENA CEO Darren Miller added, “Supporting both Linfox and Toll to electrify their heavy vehicle fleet is a significant milestone in our goal to decarbonise transport.
“By transitioning to electric vehicles, not only are these companies able to reduce their carbon footprint, but it also sets a new standard for sustainability in freight.”
Miller continued, “This is what our Driving the Nation program is about – providing support to businesses to electrify their fleets, and in turn, accelerating the uptake of electric vehicles on our roads.
“The heavy vehicle market has matured significantly over the past year in relation to battery electric vehicles, particularly vehicle availability and infrastructure.
“However, there are still significant hurdles including upfront costs for operators, challenges with charging technology and infrastructure, as well as the lack of real-world data.”
Applications for the next round of $100 million in funding under the Driving the Nation program opened on November 9.