Volvo celebrates Australia’s longest-ever electric truck journey

Volvo Group has completed Australia’s longest-ever journey in an electric truck. Volvo Group’s FH Electric drove a record-breaking 1185 kilometers from Brisbane to Canberra carrying another electric truck on a trailer.

The record-breaking electric truck was welcomed to the ACT by ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Mick Gentleman MLA and Volvo Group’s Vice President Emerging Technology, Paul Illmer at The National Arboretum in Canberra.

On this landmark journey, the FH Electric was highlighting the possibilities of zero-emission interstate freight while transporting another Volvo Trucks Electric cab chassis.

The journey coincided with the delivery to Canberra of Australia’s first zero-emissions logistics vehicle for the emergency services – an FL Electric – to the ACT Emergency Service Agency (ESA). The vehicle was first unveiled in August this year at the Brisbane Australasian Fire and Authorities (AFAC) conference.

Decarbonising our transport sector is an essential step to achieving the ACT Government’s nation-leading net-zero emissions target by 2045. This e-truck and the partnership between Volvo Group and ACT ESA is a critical milestone in the journey to achieve that.

Driver of the FH Electric and Volvo PR Manager Matt Wood said the trip took 22 hours and the electric rig had to stop eight times for top-up charges. "A charge would generally take about one to one-and-a-half hours," Matt told trucksales. "And mostly we used this time for our compulsory rest stops, though we did have to do little top-up on our last stop," he added.

"We used the Evie charging network which uses renewable engergy or charging," said Matt.

The Volvo FH Electric completing this interstate journey is the largest truck in Volvo’s heavy-duty electric truck range. Launched earlier this year, it is one of the only OEM heavy-duty electric trucks available to order in the country capable of regional haulage with a range of up to 300km.

"We're not thinking of pushing this vehicles as an interstate tuck as yet," said Matt. "But we learnt a lot about the truck, and about electric trucks as a whole along the way.

"One thing we learned was that vehicle charging needs a rethink in regards to chargin heavy vehicles. A couple of times we unhitched the trailer so we didn't take up all the charging bays, and at other times, the load on the charging system was too high, which meant longer charging times.

"But that's why we do these things, to learn more and ask questions," he said.

Commenting on the achievement, Volvo Group Australia President, Martin Merrick said: “At Volvo Group we are always trying to push the boundaries to decarbonise heavy transportation faster. Today we have set a new record for the longest electric truck journey in Australia.

"This is also the maiden voyage for the FH Electric which has only recently been able to get onto the road thanks to changes to width and weight restrictions.”

"Recently announced provisional changes to front-axel weight restrictions have enabled this journey and have shown what is possible in terms of zero-emission intercity transportation, but we need to see permanent changes harmonised on front axle weight restrictions across every state and territory to accelerate next generation sustainable mobility and meet our climate targets.”

The journey from Brisbane to Canberra is approximately 1184km. The trip took 2100kWh of energy and that energy cost around 64 cents per kWh meaning that the trip cost around $1344 to complete.

The ACT ESA vehicle is a Volvo FL Electric and will be used for logistics tasks by the ACT ESA. Following initial Volvo driver development training and vehicle implementation processes, this first vehicle is expected to go into operational service in and around the ACT in early 2024.

Volvo Group Australia has been manufacturing trucks in Australia for 50 years, and with the enabling regulatory settings is committed to manufacturing its range of FM and FH heavy-duty electric vehicles at its Wacol production facility as early as 2027.