Zero Effect

ZERO

EFFECT

In the right application opportunities will arise to maximise the full potential of PBS and take productivity to the next level as industry confronts the challenge posed by Zero Emissions Vehicles explains Tiger Spider Managing Director Marcus Coleman.

Marcus Coleman.

Australian High Productivity Vehicles like B-doubles, roadtrains and PBS combinations have a unique set of challenges and opportunities when it comes to Zero Emissions. Compared to smaller urban trucks and buses HPVs travel long distances and consume huge amounts of energy. Battery electric powertrains have proven to work for buses and show promise for urban delivery and garbage trucks which travel less than 250 km per day and return to base for overnight charging. Elon Musk is promising an affordable Tesla prime mover with 500 km to 800 km range. It remains to be seen if this will hold true towing an Australian tri-axle semi reefer van let alone an 85-tonne PBS A-double. We’ve modelled various heavy electric powertrains using available electric motor, battery, and fastcharge technology and certainly some applications are feasible. But long distance electric High Productivity Vehicles are still some time away without significant battery improvement, massive fast charger deployments or advances in hydrogen based product options. However, the bevy of new EV technologies does provide ways to improve high Startability, Gradeability and Acceleration Capability performance. These PBS standards will become increasingly relevant as we progressively overcome road infrastructure limits. On-highway engine power has been constrained by emissions regulations and Australia’s reliance on overseas suppliers. While engine manufacturers have larger options available, they don’t support on-highway emissions beyond 600hp and 700hp. This is critical for PBS since speed on a 1 per cent grade performance caps GCM. The NHVR has been negotiating with road managers to remove the prescriptive pavement horizontal loading requirement which limits GCM of tandem drive prime movers to 70 tonnes (Level 1), 85 tonnes (Level 2), 110 tonnes (Level 3) and 150 tonnes (Level 4). This follows recommendations made by the 2015 Austroads PBS Level 3 and Level 4 Standard Review. It is a useful change but only helps a little with existing prime movers. PBS vehicles are supposed to offer equivalent or better performance to the existing fleet, but this is impossible if we add an additional axle group or two (often between 15 to 50 tonnes more payload) and don’t increase power and tractive effort for Gradeability (A) - maximum grade percentage and Gradeability (B) - speed on a 1 per cent grade. PBS driveline requirements are already difficult to achieve for PBS Level 3 and Level 4 vehicles. Main Roads WA overcame this for remote and regional areas by relaxing the Level 4 standards and requiring only that a more appropriate prime mover is not readily available on the market. This is a pragmatic approach, which works for remote areas, but won’t be accepted by the Eastern states and in higher traffic areas. Ultimately, more power is required and that’s been too difficult to achieve with on-highway emission requirements. But electric motors don’t have these constraints and are already available with peak power ratings over 250kW per axle. With this technology we could

soon see 1000+hp powertrains on a PBS combination. Of course, an electric motor is only as good as the energy source supplying the electricity. This is where the current technology is lacking, and the costs mount up. Nevertheless, in the right application there is no doubt opportunities to maximise the full potential of PBS and take productivity to the next level. With the right government support and incentives combined with freight industry ingenuity, there’s no reason we can’t accelerate the introduction of High Productivity Zero Emissions Vehicles in Australia. The 80/20 rule applies. Australia’s fl eet is 80 per cent passenger cars and 20 per cent commercial vehicles. Again, 80 per cent are light commercial and 20 per cent heavy commercial; 80 per cent are rigids or buses and less than 20 per cent articulated trucks. But despite making up less than 0.5 per cent of fl eet numbers, articulated trucks are responsible for 80 per cent of tonne-km travelled within Australia. Passenger cars and light commercials consume around 80 per cent of Australia’s transport fuel where Heavy vehicles consume around 20 per cent. It makes sense for High Productivity Vehicles to be the last heavy vehicle class to make the transition to zero emissions. The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) and the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) have announced a target of 30 per cent of new truck sales to be Zero Emissions by 2030. Buses will be the fi rst heavy vehicle category to move in a serious way with most Australian State governments setting goals for all new buses by around 2025 and NSW promising to transition their 8000-vehicle city bus fl eet by 2030. This is well behind China, who established electric vehicles as a key national science and technology industrialisation project in 1995. In 2004 China’s National Development and Reform Committee specifi ed R&D focuses in three electric drive technologies (fuel cell, electric, and hybrid vehicles) and three associated components (battery, electric motor, and electronic control system) with funding in the order of $USD290 million. From 2006 to 2010 the focus moved from R&D to scale production and investment in the sector exceeded $USD1.5 billion. In 2007 China defi ned New Energy Vehicles (NEV) to include Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), Fuel-Cell Vehicles (FCVs), hydrogen Internal-CombustionEngines (ICE), and other vehicles with new fuels (National Development and Reform Commission, 2007). In 2009 the Chinese central government announced subsidies for New Energy Buses of up to CNY 500,000 (≈AUD 80K) for battery electric buses and CNY 600,000 (≈AUD 100K) for fuel-cell electric buses. Further subsidies were provided by provincial governments and additional fi nancial support was provided through the Asian Development Bank (ADB) who in 2013 approved the Clean Bus Leasing Program for up to $USD275M to support up to fi ve fi nancial leasing companies to provide leases for clean buses in the Peoples Republic of China. Consequently, China now has over 500,000 electric buses in operation. With the adoption of electric vehicles, new entrants like BYD and Tesla have emerged as market leaders. Australia leads the world in High Productivity Vehicles and we can lead the World in High Productivity Zero Emissions Vehicles. But if the Chinese model is anything to go by, it will take time, coordination, and serious government support to achieve.

A high productivity vehicle carts logging materials over a mountain.

THE BURN ULTIM ATUM

As the world powers irrevocably towards a zero carbon emission future, each commercial vehicle manufacturer is frantically searching for the best methods to achieve this goal.

Let’s face it, with the latest Euro 6 and forthcoming Euro 7 compliant diesel engines featuring supremely advanced technology that essentially turns them into giant vacuum cleaners, releasing exhaust with fewer particulates into the atmosphere than the air they take in, the last bastion of purity that can be conquered is eliminating carbon emissions. And seemingly the only way to do this successfully is to stop burning fuels of any kind altogether. This reality has led to a flurry of activity among the auto manufacturing world in recent years, with each manufacturer seeking to establish the optimum platform to take it into the brave new world where the words fuel and burning will increasingly be regarded as the dirtiest words in the vocabulary. For its part, Iveco Australia, has recently undertaken an organisational restructure that it believes will help facilitate the company’s transition towards more sustainable transport solutions beyond its current Euro 6 model range. The appointment of a dedicated resource is part of a broader global initiative, and has seen long-time Iveco Senior Product Manager, Marco Quaranta, take on the role of Strategic Projects and Industry Relations Manager with a focus on propulsion. In his new position, Marco will be heavily involved in setting up the necessary internal infrastructure and associated support systems to back Iveco’s future alternative energy ambitions. In relation to electric vehicles technology, he says the technology was rapidly advancing. “I believe that electric power is the future for commercial vehicles,” Marco says. “Battery power will be key for local pick-up and delivery, refuse collection and other backto-base applications, but ultimately for longer distances it will be hydrogen electric fuel cells.” Marco says that thanks to Iveco’s joint venture partnership with Nikola, Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and Fuel Cell Battery Electric Vehicles (FCBEV) for heavyduty applications are becoming a reality. Meanwhile, Isuzu Motors Limited and Cummins Inc. recently announced an agreement to create a prototype mediumduty, battery electric truck to demonstrate in North America. This is the first zeroemissions solution facilitated by the Isuzu Cummins Powertrain Partnership (ICPP) formed in May 2019. Through this arrangement, Cummins will integrate its PowerDrive6000 into Isuzu’s F-Series truck, with pilot vehicles expected to commence operation in prominent North American fleets in 2022. Following this, Isuzu will explore opportunities to commercialise mediumduty, battery-electric trucks across North America. Long-time rival, Hino, has also flagged a strong environmental commitment at an Australian and global level, citing a series of new global joint ventures and collaborations aimed at creating nextgeneration vehicles. “Hino is involved in a number of joint ventures, partnerships, and collaborations aimed at reducing emissions and waste to support the Hino Environmental Challenge 2050, which is a set of longterm goals adopted by Hino to help create a sustainable society for the future,” says Daniel Petrovski, Manager of Product Strategy for Hino Australia. Accordingly, Hino aims to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of its vehicles by 90 per cent, which includes the development of next-generation vehicles such as plug-in hybrids, BEV and FCBEV. For example, Hino has established a 50/50 joint venture with Chinese battery company BYD on commercial development of BEV. Another is between Hino and Volkswagen parent TRATON for e-Mobility in order to plan and provide e-mobility products. Most recently, Hino has announced a new partnership in commercial vehicles with Isuzu and Toyota. The three companies will combine Toyota’s CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electric) technologies with the commercial vehicle foundations cultivated by Hino and Isuzu. For customers ready to move in that direction now, the SEA Electric SEA-Drive 120a paired with a Hino M Series chassis is commercially available today with the City of Newcastle debuting the first vehicle of this kind in its operations only recently. In Australia, Hino has also collaborated with Melbourne-based SEA Electric on their localised solutions and supplies Hino Semi

Freightliner eCascadia.

ULTIM ATUM

Knocked Down (SKD) Glider Kits for use in two SEA Electric models. Meanwhile, Daimler Trucks with its Mercedes-Benz, Fuso and Freightliner brands is continuing to advance its quest for carbon neutrality with a project called Ambition 2039. Together with the energy supplier Enovos and the Norwegian energy producer Statkraft, Mercedes-Benz is expanding its green power portfolio – which is made up of solar, wind and hydropower – in Germany. Electricity is generated in a solar park near Ingolstadt and by more than 200 wind turbines throughout Germany as well as from hydroelectric power plants, so that the green electricity supply is said to be guaranteed at all times. The cooperation will reportedly enable CO2-free electricity to be purchased from renewable energy sources from this year onwards and forms the basis of CO2-neutral production. In Germany, in addition to the production plants for cars, vans, trucks and buses, all other Daimler facilities, including the headquarters and administrative locations, are also supplied with green electricity. In other Daimler developments, the global truckmaker and the world’s largest independent engine manufacturer, Cummins, have signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a global strategic partnership. Under the new deal, expected to begin after 2025, Cummins will invest in the development of mediumduty engine systems for Daimler Trucks and Buses. “We are pleased to announce this important strategic partnership with Daimler to provide the medium-duty engine systems for Daimler Trucks and Buses in global markets,” says Tom Linebarger, Chairman and CEO, Cummins. “Our partnership is a terrific opportunity for both companies to be more competitive, drive global innovation, expand offerings to customers and reduce emissions. Cummins will establish an engine plant within the current MercedesBenz engine facility in Mannheim, Germany. The facility will utilise existing resources to produce medium-duty engines compliant with the Euro7 emissions standard for Mercedes-Benz. Cummins has also committed to using its existing footprint and production and supply chain networks in all other regions for use in other Daimler Trucks’ brands, such as Freightliner of Daimler Trucks North America. “The memorandum of understanding between Daimler Truck and Cummins makes engine production at the Mannheim location fit for the future and at the same time strengthens our competitiveness,” says Martin Daum, Chairman of the Board of Management at Daimler Truck and member of the Board of Management at Daimler. “With the changeover to Euro 7, we would have to invest considerable resources in the further development of our medium-duty engines. We are now freeing up these funds to focus them on the technologies that are crucial to our long-term corporate success in the transformation of our industry.” Daimler said it anticipates the partnership with Cummins will enable the company to increase and accelerate its development efforts on alternative and emerging technologies, including non-diesel engines. The global group will focus on the further progression of zero-emission drive technologies as well as further development of commercial heavy-duty drivetrains.

Hino Hybrid 300.

Dashcam footage can help resolve insurance claims.

DASH LANDING

When it comes to collisions it’s often one driver’s word against the others’. Or is it?

What happens when one of your drivers is involved in a collision? He swears the other vehicle swerved in front of him, but the other driver blames him, and there are no independent witnesses. How do you disprove the accusation? What evidence can you rely on? When driving a truck, this scenario can be all too common. This is exactly the kind of situation that smart dashcams and fleet management solutions help to deal with according to Andrew Rossington, Teletrac Navman Chief Product Officer. “Camera-based solutions let you clearly see what happened before, during, and after an incident in high-definition, paired with all the insights you need analyse what happened,” he says. “Because the cameras are fully integrated into the telematics platform, the video is instantly available.” For businesses it provides a complete picture of the route, speed, environment, conditions, and activities around the vehicle. That complete data set will help protect drivers, vehicles, the company, and, ultimately, its reputation. It’s irrefutable visual proof of your driver’s awareness and behaviour as the incident occurred — key to avoiding legal and repair costs when your driver was not at fault. Smart dashcams feature advanced lenses and sensors built into the driver-facing and forward-facing cameras. It plays a crucial role in keeping drivers safe as they capture activity throughout a journey, including the road environment and the driver’s awareness to ensure they get home safely after each journey. By detecting unsafe driving behaviours, the internal camera supports the safety of company drivers. Factors like phone distractions, drowsiness, and seatbelt negligence all add up to a dangerous journey, which, if left unchecked, can prove fatal according to Andrew. “Installing internal cameras will pinpoint these issues and allow you to proactively prevent collisions from happening,” he explains. “They ensure your drivers are doing the right thing on the road and keeping both themselves and others safe. And if someone

falsely claims that negligence on your driver’s part caused an accident, you will have clear and reliable evidence to prove otherwise. No arguments, no legal costs.”

Forward thinking

Forward-facing cameras are the real game-changers for a litigation defence. By installing one as part of a telematics solution in each vehicle, fleet manager and business owners will capture evidence that they can review, analyse and then use to support a case for any incident their vehicle is involved in. Sensors within smart dashcams work to keep drivers safe by detecting first-hand any unsafe driver behaviours. These can include traffic light infractions, stop sign violations, illegal u-turns, and unsafe following distance. All this, according to Andrew, ensures the driver is practicing safe driving habits behind the wheel. “As the holiday road toll has shown, serious incidents and collisions are all too common,” he says. In December 2021, 102 Aussies lost their lives. Even though it’s lower than the average of 109 lives lost in the last five Decembers, it’s still a harsh reminder to fleet managers across the country to stay proactive when it comes to their drivers and their vehicles according to Andrew. “Installing telematics and in-vehicle cameras is a smart choice,” he says. “It will help you pinpoint dangerous behaviours that might, if unchecked, cause a crash.” Driver and forward-facing dual cams can also give a valuable driver training tool to help improve behaviour to ensure safety; enhancing the overall safety culture across the business. Technology like this will continue to help keep insurance costs down by sending an insurer a clear signal that the business is serious about fleet safety and provide evidence for notat-fault events. “There barely goes a day where dashcam footage isn’t capturing aggressive, speeding, or dangerous driving on Australia’s roads,” says Andrew. “Motorists not abiding by road laws, swerving lanes, and losing control, these are just the tip of the iceberg. Dashcams provide irrefutable visual evidence to show exactly what happened and who was at fault.” By taking advantage of technologies like smart dashcams, businesses that rely on vehicles are protecting themselves against the ‘what ifs’. In the end it’s all about peace of mind, both for the company and for its drivers says Andrew. “You eliminate the guessing game of ‘who, what, where, and when’. By deploying technologies, you achieve multiple benefits, including improved driver behaviour, enhanced overall fleet safety, reduced insurance costs and protection against false claims,” he notes. “Your company will thank you for it.”

Much more than truck insurance.

Zurich helps to improve safety in the trucking industry through market-leading fleet risk management services. We work closely with customers to optimise business processes and driver behaviour. This helps to reduce claims, keeping your trucks on the road.

Ask your broker about Zurich today.

This information is general advice only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situations or needs. You should obtain and consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement and Policy Wording (as applicable) from zurich.com.au before making a decision. A target market determination is available at zurich.com.au/GI-TMDs or by calling us on 132 687. The issuer of general insurance products is Zurich Australian Insurance Limited (ZAIL), ABN 13 000 296 640, AFS Licence Number 232507 of 118 Mount Street, North Sydney NSW 2060. ZU233775 V3 01/22 LEWG-018092-2022 primemovermag.com.au 47