Alsco electric truck — Used with permission. All rights reserved. by Mike Cornwall

Electric dreams

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Masters of Professional Practice student Elena Dyachenko investigates the potential electrification of the trucking fleet.

Working in logistics for more than ten years in different countries, I was wondering how the future of moving goods around the world might look like, especially considering the global climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions. I started to envision what could be done in New Zealand. It was interesting to compare countries like Norway, Netherlands, Japan, United Kingdom, and Australia to New Zealand because of some similarities each of these countries have with NZ in terms of geographical conditions, population, economy, social and political situation.

The purpose was to learn how electric vehicles can be successfully rolled out, what barriers exist, how they might be overcome, and what unique measures could be applied in New Zealand for the betterment of the country. The research revealed that the government support plays a major role in the implementation of e-mobility through investing in infrastructure, subsidies, removing taxes and fees.

I had a rare chance to look onto the problem from the inside out and develop a list of proposals I would suggest to implement in NZ to start going green with an e-fleet.

  • Open communication with energy companies regarding the electric grid capacity and making sure that renewable energy will be used for the fleet electrification are paramount.
  • The government may want to initially cover the difference in price between electric and diesel trucks to stimulate the market and push rollout of e-trucks as well as sponsor charging points at corporates premises.
  • Overall, a set of measures should be applied with a high level of government support, starting with charging infrastructure, price subsidies, and network investments.

The real benefits of transport electrifications will be clearly seen when vehicles, buildings, and the grid will work as one integrated system. My desire was to create a domino-effect solution where changing just one part of the equation – electrification of the long-haul trucking fleet – would have a chain reaction in developing energy, transportation, manufacturing sector.