Skip to main content

Australia’s first all-electric truck takes to the road

Australian express road freight company, Toll Group, has unveiled what it says is the country’s first all-electric truck. Toll will use the 10-tonne Smith Electric vehicle during an initial three-month trial that will look at how the vehicle performs in Australian conditions, and its operational cost. Toll will use data from on-board diagnostics that can be viewed online to monitor the vehicle’s performance in real-time. The truck has a range of up to 200 kilometres and a top speed of 95km/h. It uses
September 4, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Australian express road freight company, 7475 Toll Group, has unveiled what it says is the country’s first all-electric truck.

Toll will use the 10-tonne Smith Electric vehicle during an initial three-month trial that will look at how the vehicle performs in Australian conditions, and its operational cost. Toll will use data from on-board diagnostics that can be viewed online to monitor the vehicle’s performance in real-time.

The truck has a range of up to 200 kilometres and a top speed of 95km/h.  It uses a Lithium-ion 80 kW battery and requires five to six hours overnight charge.

Speaking at the unveiling, Toll Group Environment and Energy General Manager Nick Prescott said Toll is constantly looking for ways to apply new technologies and practices to reduce the consumption of non-renewable resources.

“We are extremely excited to be the first to get a look at this type of vehicle,” Prescott said. “It is an example of the sorts of things we’re doing as part of our broader smarter green environmental program, which looks at the use of smarter fuels such as biodiesels, compressed natural gas and electric vehicles, but only when it makes operational and economic sense to do so. The Smith Electric adds to the many CNG, LNG and hybrid vehicles we operate in Australia and globally.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • London suburb installs on-street EV charging
    July 17, 2015
    Electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions provider, APT Technologies has supplied and installed three of its very latest Tri-Rapid Chargers at sites in Shoreditch, Dalston and Hackney Central in London. Charging at 43kW AC power and 50kW DC power, the highly efficient Tri-Rapid Chargers have an eight-inch LCD screen ensuring simple user interaction, real-time consumption data and a constantly refreshed charging cost, measured on a pay-as-you-go basis. A sub-15 minute charging time ensures a fast and e
  • Q-Free pilot “will have implications around the world”
    October 13, 2020
    Next year, Q-Free will lead a first-of-its-kind European pilot to consider the viability of use-based driver fees to help fund and promote sustainable transportation. The brainchild of Q-Free engineers, notably overall pilot lead, Ola Martin Lykkja, the study aims to develop a solution for a problem many countries face; declining fuel tax revenues as a result of increasingly efficient vehicles and the growth of electric and alternative vehicle technologies. While the worldwide reduction of vehicle emissions is a crucial goal, one unfortunate by-product is the ever-reducing fuel tax revenue stream that could eventually spiral down to zero.
  • Australia launches positioning technology trials
    January 19, 2017
    The Australian Government is to invest US$9 million (AU$12 million) in a two-year program looking into the future of Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) positioning technology in Australia. The funding will be used to test instant, accurate and reliable positioning technology that could provide future safety, productivity, efficiency and environmental benefits across many industries in Australia, including transport, agriculture, construction, and resources. Federal Minister for Infrastructure
  • Toshiba develops electric-powered bus with short charging time
    May 1, 2012
    Small buses owned by Tokyo's Minato Ward, in Japan, will be retrofitted by with new motors and lithium-ion cells developed by electronics major Toshiba. In fiscal 2013, the Ward aims to start full operations of the electric-powered buses and conduct pilot runs by end-fiscal 2012. The Ward intends to deploy the buses for short journeys in housing locations, as the buses need to be recharged after a trip about 12km in a bid to maintain the battery level higher than 50 per cent. At this level of battery status