Electric milk tanker to hit Waitoa roads in May

The E-tanker is part of the Fonterra's Electric Vehicle (EV) strategy that will see a third of the co-op's light vehicle fleet converted to EV's by the end of 2023.

The co-operative is trialling the first E-tanker to understand what the future of electric milk collection and rural heavy transport looks like.

Fonterra chief operating officer Fraser Whineray says the first E-tanker is very much a trial.

"We'll be looking at a number of factors including; how far it can go, how easy it is to charge, milk collection, maintenance, efficiency, cost, and driver comfort and safety.

"This is very much a trial and we're looking forward to learning more about heavy vehicle E-Transport in a rural setting."

The cab and chassis are from XMCG - a Chinese construction machinery group: Fonterra's team will fit the 'tank' part of the tanker to it.

Whineray says improving emissions across the entire supply chain is part of the co-operative's overall commitment to sustainability.

"The global technology investment in sustainable land, air and sea transport is phenomenal," says Whineray.

"Our teams are constantly screening the possibilities to see what could work across our supply chain."

The Waitoa plant has been chosen to host the first E-tanker because close supplying farms are mostly on relatively flat land.

Whineray says this will allow Fonterra to do shorter runs where battery consumption be reduced with less hills.

"Since Waitoa was home to the biggest fleet of electric milk trucks, it is also fitting that in New Zealand it becomes home to the first modern milk collection electric tanker in New Zealand," he says.

The E-tanker can carry 28,000 litres of milk - the same as a regular tanker. However, because the 'truck' part of the tanker is a bit heavier with the battery it will carry around 2,300 litres of milk less.

This is so we can operate within our permitted weight, says Whineray.

Each tanker takes about three hours to charge: however E-tankers will operate on a 'battery swap system' so tankers won't be lying idle while charging.

Fonterra expects its team to swap the battery out in about six minutes.

State Funding

The country's first electric milk tanker project is receiving co-funding from the Government's new-look Low Emission Transport Fund (LETF).

Minister of Energy and Resources Megan Woods says the LETF is all about finding replicable solutions through innovative transport and infrastructure.

"The project included in this round show the potential for electric and low-emissions transport across a wide range of sectors: from all-terrain farm vehicles to heavy freight.

"Some of these are hard to decarbonise, so this is great progress towards reducing out transport emissions." says Woods.