The load, seen from the outside, had something almost comical about it: tons of toilet paper traveling on a heavy transport vehicle, along one of the busiest routes in south-eastern Australia. One of those goods that no one notices when it arrives on time on the shelves or at the front door, only to then realize its importance as soon as it is missing. This time, however, the interesting part was in the engine. Pushing that semi-trailer between Sydney and Canberra was a heavy electric truck, which arrived at its destination with a single charge and with the last stretch still entrusted to smaller electric vehicles.
The road distance between Sydney and Canberra is around 300 kilometres, a measurement that for those reading from Italy may remind us of a medium-range freight journey, long enough to escape the rhetoric of “it’s only good in the city” and concrete enough to speak to companies. The total route indicated for the entire delivery, including the final passage to the customers, is up to 460 kilometres. All electric. From the distribution center to the last mile, without the usual step where the diesel van comes into the picture like the noisy relative at the family dinner.
The technical protagonist of the operation is a Windrose, a heavy electric vehicle used by New Energy Transport. According to the data communicated, the vehicle can reach up to approximately 670 kilometers of autonomy with a combined mass of 49 tons, has a quick recharge in the order of an hour and a declared power of 1,400 horsepower. Numbers to be treated with the usual common sense: the test is one thing, daily life made up of shifts, traffic, yards, loading times, drivers, free columns and narrow margins is another. But the signal remains strong. The electric truck completed the delivery and, on the same route, would have reduced energy costs by 84% compared to a diesel tractor.
A normal route
The thing that makes this story less showcase and more interesting is precisely its normality. No prototype sent to do the lap of honor in a closed circuit, no futuristic catwalk with blue lights and company launch music. Here we talk about toilet paper, warehouses, customers, heavy vehicles, hills, travel times and costs. Not very sexy stuff, therefore very serious.
The electric truck traveled between Sydney and Canberra on a real intercity route, including uphill sections where diesel vehicles tend to lose speed. Electric traction, with the immediate torque typical of these vehicles, would have allowed the vehicle to maintain a more constant pace, completing the journey 25 minutes earlier than a diesel equivalent on the same route. Here too it is best to avoid brochure enthusiasm: 25 minutes alone do little to change the fate of global logistics. However, inserted into thousands of deliveries, shifts and consumption, they become data to be looked at.
Then there is the part of the last mile, often left out of stories about the transport transition. Carrying a heavy load from one city to another is only half the job. Then you have to break up the goods, distribute them and get them to the customers. In this case, that phase was also done with electric vehicles, so the delivery truly became end-to-end, from start to finish. For once, the “green” did not stop at the title.
Diesel is heavy
In Australia the issue has a harsher flavor than in many European countries. The distances are enormous, the population density is low, road transport holds together a fundamental part of daily life. Food, essential goods, raw materials, agricultural products: if the trucks slow down, the problem quickly reaches even those who have never thought of fuel as a political issue.
The country imports large quantities of refined petroleum products and diesel remains one of its most sensitive dependencies. When international markets are agitated, the increase does not remain in the analysts’ charts. It ends up in transport companies, in supermarkets, in agricultural costs, in final prices. The electric truck, in this context, ceases to be just an environmental symbol and also becomes a small form of insurance against the volatility of oil. Energy produced locally, perhaps from solar and wind, instead of fuel exposed to global crises.
This explains why a toilet paper delivery can weigh more than it seems. The 84% figure on energy costs speaks to pockets even before emissions. Companies may be very fond of sustainability in their press releases, but financial statements have a more ferocious memory. If electric starts to cost less in everyday use, the conversation changes tone. It becomes less “let’s make a good impression” and more “how much do we save per kilometre”.
This delivery ushers in a new era for road freight in Australia, where heavy-duty electric trucks are not only cheaper and faster, but free Australia from the volatility of global oil markets, dramatically strengthening the resilience of our supply chain,” said Daniel Bleakley, co-CEO of New Energy Transport.
The delicate point always remains the same: the initial price of the vehicles, the availability of the charging infrastructure, the power needed in the depots, the scheduling of the routes. A heavy electric truck doesn’t fit into the fleet like a new kettle into the kitchen. It is necessary to plan routes, breaks, recharges, loads, shifts. We need a network capable of supporting large vehicles, large batteries, tight deadlines. The transition, in logistics, does not live on slogans. It lives on industrial outlets, yards and well-made accounts.
The road is being built
New Energy Transport is aiming to develop a pilot fleet of electric HGVs in Wilton, south-west of Sydney, with a depot initially designed for dozens of trucks and then for larger growth in subsequent years. The direction is clear: to transform some heavily used routes into electric corridors, where the heavy vehicle does not have to improvise every time as if it had set off on an adventure in the desert.
It is the step that will make the difference even outside Australia. Heavy-duty electric trucks can already perform well on predictable, repetitive routes, with managed departures and arrivals. Warehouse, intercity route, storage, final distribution. Less suitable, for now, for certain long, variable missions, without dedicated infrastructures. The distinction matters, because it avoids two opposing mistakes: selling them as a magic solution for everything or dismissing them as city toys.
In Italy the discussion would have different coordinates, with shorter distances, a denser road network, different energy constraints and a fleet of vehicles to be renewed with great caution. But the Australian lesson comes anyway. The decarbonisation of freight transport will not just come from big announcements on the fuels of the future. It will also involve precise routes, companies that test, equipped depots, vehicles capable of actually working and customers willing to watch what happens behind an apparently banal delivery.
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