Zenobē set to double the number of Australian electric trucks
Zenobē aims to bring the total number of heavy duty electric trucks up to 2000 by the end of the year. “With 56 per cent of Australia’s truck fleet now more than a decade old, operators are increasingly making decisions about replacement technologies as vehicles reach the end of their operating life,” the company told Energy Magazine.The money will go into procuring new electric trucks for commercial operators, as well as what Zenobē calls ‘the full ecosystem supporting them’. This includes charging infrastructure, battery replacements, and deployment – all with the aim to ‘match or beat the total cost of ownership (TCO) of diesel fleets.’ Additionally, the funding is intended to support fleet planning – including depot assessments, fleet and energy modelling, and more ‘at no cost to operators’.Gareth Ridge, Zenobē country director for Australia and New Zealand, said the electric truck sector was ripe for growth in Australia: “The direction we set in the next five years will define the trajectory for the next two decades. Our goal is simple: to make the transition total cost of ownership neutral so the sustainable choice is also the commercial one.”The company has not confirmed where the funding is coming from; last year, Zenobē received a major investment worth $6m AUD from Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to lease a fleet of 60 electric trucks to the retailer Woolworths and support a wider $19m AUD investment by ARENA and Zenobē. However, there is currently nothing to suggest that the two investments are linked.energymagazine.com.au
