Leccy trucks coming thick & fast

Depends who you talk to. Some say “nothing”, the reality is beauty, nature at her best. There is Alice Springs and Ayres Rock. Wildlife and flora abound, some of the ancient topography is awesome.

I know how big Australia is, I driven from top to bottom, bottom to top,right to left, left to right and circumnavigated it in both directions. All I can say is I’m glad I wasn’t the first bloke looking for the edge, with only camels, donkeys or horses for transport. :laughing:
If you’re interested, Google Bourke and Wills south north exploration. Unfortunately neither survived.
I’ll not comment on Europe as I have no knowledge, but Google tells me the UK would fit into Australia thirty-two times.

You clearly inferred that UK/European conditions can’t take NZ type outfits.Then you backtrack when asked why not ?.
So multi trailer outfits are 'strictly regulated in Oz ?.Exactly how regulated regarding permitted access.
While if we’re talking about outfits limited to one trailer and load only then it’s obvious that the dedicated road locomotive/battery unit and drawbar trailer would create far more flexibility in how far and where the thing can get, before needing that battery change or more likely recharge.The equivalent of 80-100 gallons of diesel is a reasonable minimum benchmark and that needs around 10 tonnes of battery capacity.
Those numbers clearly don’t add up for the tractor unit and semi trailer configuration.

Let’s just say that Glasgow to Sicily or Dubrovnik is more than a few miles down the road.

Not code.It takes drawbar outfit thinking to make EV trucks work.Think road locomotive/ballast tractor in which the batteries are the ballast.

To add.
You’re saying that an Oz tractor unit has up to 400 gallons of fuel tankage ?.
Call it 200 gallons = 10 tonnes of batteries.
How is a 3 axle tractor unit, going to also handle 10t payload on it before you even couple it up to a semi trailer ?.
As opposed to an NZ type outfit in which the prime mover is solely a dedicated road locomotive and battery package ?.

I did? Like to point that out to me?
Unlike your good self, I’m not in the habit of imparting expert opinions on subjects of which I have no knowledge.

It’s considered poor form to take a four trailer combination over the Harbour Bridge or up George St…

I have no doubt that if we ditched the freight and replaced it with batteries, the range could be extended to far more practical distances, but that tends to be somewhat counterproductive. Do you not grasp the concept of the industry? No wonder you failed so spectacularly.

All I know is that there are two electric trucks being trialled on the Hume corridor, carting the same loads, in the same timeframe, with the same number of wheels as the diesel counterparts. The only logistical difference being the electric trucks are given a battery change halfway.

The ‘only logistical difference’ being 450 Kms range max where a newly charged battery pack has to be heaved into position and the used one removed for charging.At an off site dedicated charging facility and provision.While as you said yourself it won’t work at all over longer distances.Because a tractor unit can’t haul enough batteries combined with the weight of the semi trailer.Not surprising with a typical fuel capacity of up to 400 gallons.
As opposed to the old proven road locomotive/ballast tractor and trailer configuration in which the required batteries are now the ballast.

If you couple the SAME trailer/s and their load to a rigid prime mover/road locomotive instead of a tractor unit exactly what freight have you ditched ?.
As opposed to the freight you’ll have to ditch with a tractor unit hauling enough batteries for the job.
You said every country is different.So exactly what’s so different about UK/Europe/Scandinavia whereby the typical NZ and Scandinavian type rigid and trailer outfit can’t work in all ?.
Or for that matter Australia but with two or even three trailers instead of one.

So Hyundai to the rescue with Hydrogen lorries. They look awkwardly bulky & with rows of hydrogen tanks at 3,600 psi – 10,000 psi next to the bunk & a range worse than the Tesla Semi with 250 miles.

I can’t see them being a success in the US market, unless marketed at the local sector. The bunk is too small, by Australian standards and minuscule to Yanks.
Range is a bit short, but no doubt that will be improved upon.

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Scrolling through some news and this came up.
[Elon Musk Mocks Gasoline Car Owners: “Like Owning a Horse”]

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LOL, Mind you I can’t be doing with him or his orange mate.

Then he’ll obviously have no problem with maintaining the freedom of choice and we can decide for ourselves.
I’d be happy with a 1 year old Range Rover Ingenium 6 cylinder diesel let alone petrol Defender.Assuming he wants to flog me one for the price of a cart horse.

New Chinese kid on the block! Windrose, wonder where they copied that design. :thinking:

670km range at 49 ton.

This was an interesting watch of a German driver driving a IVECO arctic between drops/pick-ups & charging at truck stops.
I haven’t been in truck stops for quite a while & wonder if the charging infrastructure is anything like Europe. I doubt it, but you never know.

Interesting watch. I’ve not seen a dedicated truck charging point yet.

It could be handy if they provided a CCS connector on both sides of the catwalk, and perhaps one at the front too, especially if you may be making do with charge points that were planned around car use. Most public chagers I have come across have the kerb / fence where the charger is, very few I have seen where there is a space on both sides of the charger, probably down to having to lay cables under the finished surface, but the end result being much more flexible. That said perhaps the chargers are a little more vunerable to a bit of bad reversing.

As a side note I did notice someone charging this week on the south circular around east sheen, where they were in a parking bay parallel to the road but had the charging plug and lead on the offside, I don’t think I would have been up for that with the potential of coming back to find the charging socket and / or the plug of the charger damaged from the passing traffic.

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After watching that vid I noted that there wasn’t really enough ‘drive through’ bays when you are coupled to a trailer, The most I saw was two at the truck stops.

I imagine they will need to increase the number of them pretty quickly over the next few years.
Overall though it seemed easier to get around in an electric lorry than I thought, he never seemed to panic about range anxiety or was worrying about getting a charge at truck stops.
I would have liked him to say how much they cost at each charge compared to a diesel fill up, & how long it took each time, but it seemed to work out with 45-minute breaks & plugging in overnight.
I read there’s a consultaion going on about setting up chargering infrastructure in the UK that can be pre-booked.

I think the costs were in the on screen graphic when he charged, but only up briefly, one I think was about 50c a kW. I think you’d have to pause and get the figures properly to do a comparison.

I get the impression rapid charging is generally regarded as less than ideal for cars in relation to maximizing the battery health long term, or perhaps that is partly unproven, but with so much battery capacity rapid charging is going to be the norm for trucks.

Yes, Siemens has 1MW charger for e-trucks & had successful trials with them, It was either a Volvo or Mercedes e-truck. It can charge the big battery packs from 20%-80% in 30 minutes, so well within the 45 minute statutory break.
Quite a few BEV car models coming out with 400/800/900V architecture that can charge fast now.

Tesla V3 superchargers are 250kW & the latest Tesla V4 superchargers are going to be 500kWs, so charging times starting to come down.

I’ve never rapid charged mine & the graphics on the my cars charging screen says to try & keep it between 20% - 80% state of charge to keep the pack healthy, I read differing things about continually rapid charging being bad for the battery pack, but I see taxi’s going through auctions with 100/200000 miles + on the clock but still in the 90% state of health of the battery pack. Some of those guys rapid charge numerous times every day.