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

  • Radar reinforces detection efficiency
    March 16, 2016
    Radar can have distinct advantages in some transport-related situations as Colin Sowman found out during a visit to Navtech Radar. Despite tremendous advances in machine vision techniques, the accuracy and reliability of camera-based detection systems suffer during periods of poor visibility where other technologies may offer an alternative. Radar is one such technology. It too has seen significant development in recent years and according to Navtech Radar, the technology can often fulfil detection and moni
  • All-electric delivery trucks hit the streets of Columbus
    March 1, 2012
    Frito-Lay North America division, the US$13 billion convenient foods business unit of PepsiCo, has started rolling out some of its fully electric delivery trucks in Columbus.
  • From gas tax to road pricing
    March 18, 2020
    Robert W. Poole of the Reason Foundation thinks that trust is going to be essential if US states are to transition from gas tax to road pricing.
  • Webfleet helps fleets offset carbon emissions 
    November 5, 2020
    Customers can estimate annual CO2 emissions based on fleet size, firm says