Auckland

HERE’S THE LIST: NEW YORK, TOKYO, BERLIN, LONDON, Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin, Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Lisbon….and Auckland. What have they got in common? Well, for one thing, as of sometime in the next month or so they’ll all be cities where FUSO’s all-electric light-duty eCanter is on the road…and working.

Three and a half years and 200-plus trucks into what Daimler Trucks says proudly is the world’s first series-production electric truck, it’s New Zealand’s turn to put some of them on the road.

The first six Kiwi FUSO eCanters are due to arrive here this month – five of them set to go to work in Auckland Transport’s so-called Queen Street Valley Zero Emissions Area (ZEA) trial.

Mainfreight, Bidfood, Toll, Owens Transport and Vector

OnGas will be running the eCanters in the trial – the cost of the etrucks subsidised to the tune of almost $100,000 per truck by the Government, via the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority’s Low Emission Vehicle Contestable Fund.

The ZEA trial is to be used “to develop a clearer understanding of how the integration of electric trucks will affect transport and delivery systems.”

The project will generate data collected by EROAD, and provide “insights to inform future policy development for implementing the ZEA for urban freight, and high visibility.”

The other truck in the first batch of eCanters landing here this month is earmarked as a demonstrator for Fuso NZ – picking up another $242,500 worth of EECA funding “to build transport industry awareness and wider acceptance of electric trucks.”

In February’s announcement of the EECA subsidies, in addition to the six eCanters, another $500,000 was put towards the cost of putting five Hyundai fuel cell electric trucks into “real-world daily logistics operation trials” in NZ.

Together they were part of an EECA funding round totalling $3.7million – with the 22 recipients of grants themselves contributing an additional total of $9.4m.

In announcing the funding, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods said that the Climate Change Commission “rightly points out how crucial reducing transport emissions is to meeting our climate change goals.

“It shows we are on the right track by supporting the uptake of cleaner technologies.

“Demonstrating and proving the potential for electric and hydrogen heavy vehicles is important, as heavy freight has an outsized impact on transport emissions.”

Daimler Truck says that with the FUSO eCanter it has staked its claim “as a pioneer and leader in electric trucks – working towards providing sustainable, CO -neutral transport.

By February, more than 40 eCanters were running in the United States, over 60 in Japan and over 100 in customer

operations in Europe. Between them all they’ve so far clockedup over three million kilometres.

FUSO is proud of its pioneering role in the development of electric trucks and their manufacture in significant numbers, saying it “leads the commercial vehicle industry into the future” – in line with Daimler Truck’s sustainability strategy and its aim to have all new vehicles in the Triad (Europe, North America, and Japan) “tank-to-wheel” CO -neutral by 2039.

Fuso NZ managing director Kurtis Andrews says the company is “delighted to be the first to bring NZ a zero-emissions delivery truck, which includes fully integrated advanced safety systems.

“This is a project we have focused on for a number of years and we are looking forward to getting these units out to work for our customers.

“FUSO eCanter is ideal for inner city delivery,” says Andrews: “It is easy to drive, produces zero emissions and is virtually silent, which is a huge benefit for inner city residents and workers.

“We’d love to hear from operators interested in integrating an FUSO eCanter into their fleet.”

The eCanter is driven by a permanent synchronous electric motor, powered by an 81kWh (420v) lithium-ion, liquid-cooled battery pack. It delivers an impressive 135kW of power and 390Nm of torque – which is instantly available.

Fuso NZ says the eCanter will have a range of 100-150 kilometres on a single charge – making it well-suited to metro work including FMCG delivery, furniture removal, refuse and recycling, light commercial work and chilled goods delivery.

The eCanter has a 7500 kilogram gross vehicle weight, making it capable of carrying a 3500kg payload.

Two-stage regeneration captures kinetic energy created by the truck’s momentum and stores it in the batteries for future use. The company says that efficient use of the regeneration settings will extend the practical range.

The electric drivetrain is fitted to a standard 3400mm wheelbase FUSO Canter cab chassis, meaning customers and bodybuilders have the same, familiar 750mm wide frame to work with.

A standard CCS2 plug is used for charging, with downtime minimised using DC fast-charge capability that will have the battery at 80% capacity in less than an hour. Each truck comes equipped with an AC charge cable (max 32A), which will allow a full charge overnight, using offpeak power.

Fuso NZ calculates that it will cost $10 to fully recharge the battery pack, from 20% – that based on an offpeak residential rate of $0.15c per kWh.

The etruck also qualifies for RUC exemption, it adds. And it estimates that that truck will reduce maintenance costs by up to 50% compared to an equivalent diesel truck.

Fuso NZ says that “the eCanter’s sustainability credentials are matched by its exceptionally high safety standards.” Crash avoidance/minimising technologies on board include active emergency braking, lane departure warning, electronic stability control and disc brakes all around.

In the leadup to this month’s arrival of the first batch of Kiwi eCanters, Fuso NZ ran a day-long eCanter launch/familiarisation in Auckland for invited guests from the companies and organisations participating in the ZEA trial, plus Government and infrastructure organisations.

As well as being offered test drives, the guests were provided with a full demonstration of the eCanter and given “insight into developments and trends around EV technology and power infrastructure, particularly from a transport operator perspective.”

Fuso NZ head of sales and customer experience Kathy Schluter says “the knowledge shared was invaluable and created some great discussions amongst the group.

“We’re all excited to finally see FUSO eCanter arrive and go to work in the Auckland CBD.

“The ZEA trial very much sets the scene for the future, particularly for these early adopters who have joined us on this journey leading the charge.”

So what is driving the eCanter actually like?

NZ Truck & Driver tester Hayden Woolston had the opportunity for a brief drive of a pre-launch test unit a few months ago and found the instantly-available peak torque from the electric motor “unbelievable: Initially, you find yourself wanting to beat cars off the mark at lights!

“Obviously, you soon settle into driving normally – but you find you don’t ever have to struggle to merge in traffic and so on.

“The torque is as smooth as hell: Obviously, no gearchanges, so no drop in revs – it’s just constant torque. Smooth all the way through.”

He hopped out (reluctantly) feeling impressed with every aspect of it…but most of all the pleasure of driving it.

I drove an eCanter on a FUSO media trip to Japan in mid-2018