INCOMING CARGO
To kick off its hydrogen programme, Hyundai New Zealand is introducing five Xcient Fuel Cell trucks to New Zealand. These will soon be joined in the market by 20 heavy FCEVs supplied by Hyzon.
HEAVY TRUCK
INCENTIVES QUICKEST ROAD TO REDUCING EMISSIONS Story by Dion Cowley Green hydrogen’s place in reducing carbon emissions from New Zealand’s transport fleet is indisputable. Hiringa Energy lays out the maths, responding to the Ministry of Transport’s recently released New Zealand Freight and Supply Chain Issues paper. 98 New Zealand Trucking
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Images: Hyundai New Zealand and Hiringa Energy
ransitioning the heavy-trucking fleet to zeroemission technology presents a vital opportunity for reducing emissions associated with our critical supply chains. The key focus is on heavy vehicles because they make up 23% of New Zealand’s transport emissions. While light vehicles currently produce the most emissions, it will be trucks that generate the most by 2055 without
August 2022
further intervention. Other forms of heavy transport – aviation, rail, coastal shipping, and ferries – will also benefit from hydrogen technology, and developments are underway. But heavy trucks are the ‘low hanging fruit’.
Fleet operators need incentives The bulk of heavy-truck fleets are owned by a couple dozen commercially minded fleet
operators (as opposed to millions of passenger vehicle owners). The heaviest trucks drive the most kilometres and emit more than 150 times more CO2 than the average passenger vehicle. Replacing these heaviest trucks with green hydrogen fuel-cell electric trucks (FCEV) prevents approximately 300 tonnes of CO2 from entering the environment each year depending on payload (based on 225,000km per annum for
