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What About Testing Electric Trucks in Australia?

what about testing electric trucks in Australia?

We get plenty of news about electric trucks in Europe and in the USA, but what about testing electric trucks in Australia? Well, alongside the Linfox electric truck trial Volvo also did some testing of its own on another FL Electric to see how fast charging and extreme heat can affect range, battery charging and vehicle performance.

Equipped with Volvo Group’s second-generation battery packs with a capacity totalling 265kW, local VGA engineers subjected the FL Electric to a series of on-road tests in 35 degree plus heat. Loaded to a gross weight of 15,000kg the FL Electric covered over 730 kilometres over a variety of traffic conditions and terrain including a climb up the (six per cent gradient) Toowoomba bypass as well as routes through inner-city traffic.

These second-generation battery packs have a predicted energy consumption of 0.9 kWh per kilometre, however local testing has found consumption at this point to be lightly lower at 0.73 kWh per kilometre.

The potential of regenerative braking came to the fore coming down the Toowoomba range with braking energy alone enough to replenish battery power by nearly five per cent.

what about testing electric trucks in Australia?

“Temperature is the enemy of battery performance in any vehicle,” said Paul lllmer, Vice President Technology Business Development,” For our industry to go electric our customers need to know we’ve tried and tested our technology in adverse conditions rather than report contrived figures derived from testing in a controlled environment.” 

“And I’m extremely happy to see the results of this testing, which proves the FL Electric is a viable option for a range of urban distribution roles while being able to tolerate Australia’s harsh climate.” 

The test drives also included a 40-minute fast charge from 40 per cent battery capacity using a 150Kwh DC chargers in an effort to understand how opportunity charging may be integrated into an everyday transport operation. 

The 4×2 Volvo FL Electric has a gross vehicle weight of 16,000kg and creates 130kW of continuous power which is delivered to the rear wheels via a 2-speed automated transmission. Depending on application, range can be up to 300 kilometres between charges. Charging times range from 11 hours (22Kwh AC) to 2 hours (150Kwh DC).

Volvo are saying that customer deliveries of the Volvo FL Electric are anticipated to begin during 2022. 

what about testing electric trucks in Australia?

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