Fonterra trialling New Zealand's first E-tanker

Photo / File

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Last week Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the Government's Low Emission Transport Fund will include New Zealand's very first electric milk tanker.

Fonterra will operate the electric 46T milk tanker with battery-swap technology at its Waitoa Depot, near Tauranga.

Currently, it was housed at the co-op's Morrinsville Depot, where the team was doing a great job of adding the "tanks" to the truck and chassis and getting it roadworthy, Fonterra's chief operating officer Fraser Whineray said.

The E-tanker is due to hit the road in early May and will help Fonterra understand what the future of electric milk collection and rural heavy transport looks like.

It would also help the co-op with its sustainability goals, Whineray told The Country Sport Breakfast's Brian Kelly.

"Transport is, certainly for the country and for the world, one of the fastest-growing sources of emissions."

Chief operating officer at Fonterra, Fraser Whineray. Photo / File

Fonterra used milk tankers, had shipping partners and many other uses for vehicles in New Zealand, so the co-op was looking at different fuel systems to reduce those emissions, Whineray said.

"The E-tanker's part of that strategy and [as for] the light vehicle fleet, we'll have a third of that converted to electric vehicles by the end of 2023."

Fonterra is also looking into transitioning its medium and heavy vehicles.

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While the electricity option was "quite exciting" the co-op wasn't going to commit the fleet to technology that wasn't proven yet, so a trial was underway to see how the E-tanker operated, Whineray said.

"Generally what we've got to do is kick the tyres pretty hard here and learn a lot."

Safety, driver comfort and maintenance were all important factors to monitor during the trial but they were the just tip of the iceberg, Whineray said.

"Is there less brake wear because we're using electric regeneration? [Then there's] range obviously.

"Also the battery, which we can swap out in six minutes with a fully charged one, versus the charge time of three hours, and also how it integrates with the site.

"There's a lot of things we've got to learn."

The E-tanker trial is at Waitoa because there are many supplying farms close by and on relatively flat land.

This means drivers can do shorter runs and reduce battery consumption with fewer hills.

Interestingly, it is also 100 years since Waitoa had the largest fleet of electric milk trucks, so the E-Tanker will be right at home.

Whineray predicted there would be some ups and downs during the trial but that was also part of the learning process.

"In the end, we've got to get familiar with this one and really understand it."