Penske pushes 'more trailers, cleaner burn' approach 

Ask Penske about its sustainability strategy and the answer might surprise you, because there’s no electric prime mover on offer, no hydrogen truck on the horizon, and no talk of putting an end to combustion.  

Instead, the company is pursuing a pragmatic, multi-pronged approach that leans on proven technology and what it already knows how to do well. 

At a Penske product update, held at the Australian Automotive Research Centre (AARC) in Victoria, executives outlined a sustainability philosophy that spans renewable diesel advocacy, natural gas power generation, large-scale engine remanufacturing, mining truck hybridisation and on-site solar. 

As Trucksales discovered at the event, in the eyes of Penske the most effective emissions reductions are the ones you can deploy now. It’s an approach founded in reality, and there wasn’t a bold net-zero claim in sight. 

Penske’s executive general manager of on-highway, Craig Lee, is up front about where he sees the most practical emissions reduction opportunity for heavy vehicles and it starts with productivity. 

“If you want to run Australia sustainably with an emission reduction perspective, in my opinion, you need to provide incentives to operators to run multi-combination trailers. Less trucks, more trailers,” he said. 

“When you look out here at our models (on display), there’s not a truck that can’t run multi-combination on a blend of renewable diesel.  

“So while it’s not as sexy as having hydrogen fuel cells or battery electric, incentives around multi-combination and incentives around renewable diesel blends are actually the most practical solution for the type of truck that we supply.” 

Lee points out that around 50 per cent of trucks operating on Australia’s East Coast are still running single trailers, which presents an immense opportunity to reduce the total number of trucks on the road, cut emissions proportionally, and help address the chronic driver shortage. 

“You get less trucks on the road, so you’ve got less engines producing emissions because engines produce emissions, not trailers,” he said.  

The Albanese government’s recently announced $1.1 billion Cleaner Fuels program, which aims to support refining of low-carbon liquid fuels in Australia, is a step Lee sees as both practical and overdue. 

“I firmly believe that whatever you want to call it – renewable diesel, sustainable fuels, low-emission liquefied fuels running through internal combustion engines supplied by conventional oil companies – governments know how to tax it, operators know how to burn it, truck manufacturers know how to build the asset to do it, emergency services know how to deploy it when things go upside down on the side of the road,” Lee said. “It is a practical solution.” 

Lee is not dismissive of battery-electric technology – he sees strong potential in last-mile rigid applications – but for the heavy-duty prime mover market Penske operates in, he says the infrastructure and commercial case are not yet there. 

“If you’re charging batteries or creating hydrogen with coal-fired power, what are you actually setting out to do?” he questioned. 

“Are you trying to decarbonise your cities or are you trying to reduce emissions? That’s the question.” 

While much of the sustainability conversation in road transport surrounds what comes out of a truck’s exhaust, Penske’s off-highway business is already running large-scale generators on natural gas – and the emissions reductions are significant. 

At the Solomon Hub in the Pilbara, 15 Bergen engines supplied and supported by Penske are generating 180 megawatts of power for Fortescue, running entirely on natural gas for an emissions reduction of around 50 per cent. 

“It’s 100 per cent gas, so the emissions are about half of what you’d see using diesel – it’s incredible,” said Penske’s general manager of remanufacturing and production, Greg Dobe. 

The Bergen engines are industrial-scale units – each producing close to 12 megawatts – with individual cylinder heads weighing half a tonne and pistons tipping the scales at around 30 kilograms.  

Penske managing director Hamish Christie-Johnston is proud of the accomplishment, which proves Australia’s abundant natural gas has the potential to power engines around the country. 

“We’ve got 15 of them chugging away at the Solomon Hub in Pilbara generating 180 megawatts of power for Andrew Forrest (executive chairman of Fortescue) running on natural gas,” he said. 

As far as on-highway crossover is concerned, Lee sees a broader link between Penske’s energy generation and its truck business.  

“That natural gas power generation could inform natural gas in trucks. It all ties in,” he said, highlighting that MAN already produces natural gas buses overseas. 

Penske’s remanufacturing operation is one of the least visible but most impactful parts of its sustainability story.  

The company remanufactures approximately 100 large MTU mining engines per year, which are 2700-horsepower V-configuration diesel engines that power haul trucks across some of Australia’s biggest mining operations. 

“I can’t tell whether this is new or remanufactured by looking at it,” Dobe said, standing next to a freshly rebuilt engine at the Penske event.  

“It will come out of remanufacturing looking like new.” 

More than being a cosmetic exercise, the process allows Penske to keep vehicles running for longer which is sustainable from a well-to-wheel standpoint. It also allows them to tailor engines to individual customer requirements.  

That might mean fitting harder Triballoy valves for improved durability, relocating wiring harnesses to reduce damage in the field, or adjusting the engine’s output for a particular site’s operating conditions. 

“The customers actually love the fact that we can tailor-make an engine once it goes through our remanufacturing centre to their needs,” Dobe said. 

A key driver of the remanufacturing business is supply, Dobe explains. As engine models go out of production, sourcing new units becomes difficult, making remanufacturing the most viable option. 

“A lot of these parts, or engines, can end up being hard to get,” he said.  

“Remanufacturing gives them a second life.” 

Perhaps the most intriguing sustainability play in Penske’s portfolio is a mining truck hybridisation project currently underway, which the company outlined at the event. 

The company purchased a Komatsu 830E, a 240-tonne electric-drive dump truck that uses a 16-cylinder diesel engine to drive a generator, which then sends power to two electric motors. 

Penske’s conversion will involve removing the 16-cylinder MTU engine and replacing it with a smaller 12-cylinder unit, supplemented by batteries, inverters and a new control system to make it significantly more efficient. 

The expected result is a 20 to 30 per cent reduction in fuel use at the target site, with the $2 million-per-truck conversion paying for itself in approximately three years through diesel savings and carbon credits. 

It’s clear that Penske’s approach to sustainability doesn’t centre around one standout technology of the future, but instead on a series of incremental, commercially viable steps that can be taken now, spanning the breadth of its business.  

The approach might not be as flashy as a zero-emission model rollout, or a hardline net-zero target, but it’s working – and critically, it’s working right now. 

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