Haulage
Logging goes electric Goal is for value chain to be fossil-free
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CA, together with Scania, has developed the world’s first electric timber truck with a capacity to carry 80 tonnes. SCA’s goal is for the entire value chain to be fossil-free. “We have come a long way in the industrial processes that are already today 96 percent fossil-free. We are very happy to be able to break new ground together with Scania to make the heaviest transports fossilfree,” says Hans Djurberg, head of sustainability at SCA. The world’s first electric timber truck with a capacity of 80 tonnes has now been delivered to SCA. The vehicle solution that Scania has developed in close collaboration with SCA and the research institute Skogforsk, is part of the transition to sustainable transport. SCA was founded in 1929 in Sweden and has since then evolved from a pure forest company to a company that also offers personal care and tissue products. “The 80-ton battery-powered timber truck shows that even really heavy transports can be electrified. The partnership with SCA, where you are out early and show what is possible, is a clear signal that it is possible to electrify even heavy transports. A change of pace is needed in order for Sweden to become fossil-free in
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time and achieve the goal in the Paris Agreement,” says Fredrik Allard, head of E-mobility at Scania. “An electric timber truck is a symbol of something quite cool. Shipping of just timber has been talked about as something that might never be possible to electrify. The development in recent years and what we now present together with SCA shows how fast the development takes place both in terms of vehicles and batteries. Test runs during summer The intention is for the vehicle to transport timber on the stretch between SCA’s timber terminal in Gimonäs and the paper mill in Obbola outside Umeå. The new electric timber truck is another innovative step on the journey towards a fossil-free society and can be driven with a total weight of 64 tonnes on public roads and 80 tonnes on private roads. Obbola’s paper mill currently has a basically completely fossil-free production process and the intention with the new vehicle is to reduce the fossil elements in the transport chain of raw materials to the mill. The electric timber truck will be tested during the European summer and continuously studied by the research institute Skogforsk
• The electric truck being loaded and, inset, being recharged. to collect relevant data that can form the basis for comparisons with conventional diesel-powered timber transports. Thereafter, the plan is for it to be included in SCA’s ordinary operations. High climate ambitions “This is a first concrete step towards electric power in the most difficult part of the land-based transport chain, which is extremely important. This is a global challenge that many have
struggled with and now we are showing together with an innovative partner, Scania, that Swedish industry can drive sustainability development,” says Hans Djurberg. “Sustainability and reduced carbon dioxide emissions are important for the whole society, which means that the business is also dependent on us driving development. Our forests and forest products have long created enormous climate
Australian Forests & Timber News August 2022
benefits and our industries are very climate efficient, so it is also obvious with high climate ambitions for transport as well.” The studies carried out during the European summer will, among other things, compare energy consumption, productivity and costs in relation to existing vehicles and map out what would be required for a broad implementation of electric timber trucks throughout the country.
www.timberbiz.com.au
