Ann: New $70 Million Haulage and Logistics Contract, page-108

Sorry to bust the bubble, but battery electric trucks would eat into FEX earnings significantly because battery electric haulage is way, way more expensive than diesel for long haul bulk payloads. This is true even with a downhill haul to the port.

- This is because the batteries have limited life at industrial usage intensity and battery replacement is expensive,
- The large weight of the batteries displaces truck payload, less tonnes per trip hauled meaning more trucks are required to do the same haulage.
- the recharge time reduces trips per day, meaning more trucks are required.
- power is not free and emits carbon anyway, especially when recharging at night. The power cost is not much less than diesel costs.
- I doubt there would be sufficient power infrastructure available to recharge trucks on route, requiring power grid upgrades.
- The energy density in a battery is low compared to diesel fuel. Trucks would not be able to complete a whole return trip on a charge and certainly not a whole shift, they would have to stop more than one time per shift to recharge requiring en route charging stations, but also taking productive hours out of the day. Each recharge is likely to take an hour or more, perhaps totally 4-5 hours per day, 20% loss of productive time.

The most tangible option to get rid of diesel without jacking up operating costs is electrified rail.

Every company is getting a token electric truck or two to help placate the greenies, but there’s no chance of widespread rollout for the foreseeable future.