Electricity’s future role as the power source for heavy road vehicles will be better understood when New Zealand’s first two Volvo FM Electric 6x4 trucks join Auckland roads from April 2025.
Purchased by Fulton Hogan with support from EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority)’s Low Emissions Heavy Vehicle Fund, the Volvos will each transport up to 16,000kg of asphalt from plants in Penrose and Drury to sites around the city.
Fulton Hogan has already worked with Volvo and EECA to pioneer other large electrically powered equipment. This is their first collaboration with road-going vehicles.
Fulton Hogan NZ Chief Executive, Ben Hayward, says the launch of the Volvo FM trucks is “another learning step on the path to a low emissions fleet”.
“For electricity to replace fossil fuel in large equipment like this we need organisations who are committed to investing in change, and we’re grateful to be working with two like-minded organisations to take this step. Across our wider fleet, the potential opportunities to reduce emissions, with time, are enormous.”
General Manager for Volvo Trucks New Zealand, Scott Holt, says transitioning to low carbon fleets requires leaders like Fulton Hogan to deliver learnings that will enable others to follow.
“We’re committed to working to support the team’s commercial, safety and sustainability goals across their operations to help achieve this,” Scott says.
Modelling the efficacy of the 450 kWh vehicles prior to purchase showed their ‘sweet spot’ was short duration, cyclic trips in urban/suburban areas. It indicated a 152km range with a full 16,000kg load, using 2.92 kWh/km at an average speed of 43km/h, including 38kWh of regenerated energy.
If these figures are consistent with actual use, this will reduce emissions by a combined total (both trucks) of approximately 150 tonnes CO2e annually compared with diesel powered trucks performing the same task over 60,000km per year.
