Image: Woolworths
UK company Zenobē is moving on from Sydney’s electric buses and into grocery delivery, locking in $8.5 million in federal funding to do so.
The charging infrastructure company will build an electric truck charging site in Sydney for grocery delivery trucks, with a grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
It’s not the first time Zenobē has worked with ARENA. In 2021 the federal green bank gave it $5 million towards the $37.2 million ‘Next Generation Electric Bus Depot’ in Leichardt, Sydney.
It is this kind of green finance that is critical to getting new projects like the bus hub and the future grocery delivery site at Mascot underway, said Zenobē founder Nicholas Beatty in a statement.
With the new project, Zenobē will own and operate the $19 million charging site and 60 electric trucks, which will be leased to Woolworths under an electric-vehicle-as-a-service model.
EV charging as a service is a model that is increasingly used in Australia, allowing companies to install charging sites without having to invest in the infrastructure themselves, but including the vehicles in the deal is a new element.
Woolworths is particularly keen on this solution as it sidesteps “significant” operational and financial uncertainties such as securing sufficient power, installing and maintaining charging infrastructure, replacing batteries, maintaining a reliable service, and keeping costs down, the company says.
“We are working to make our fleet of home delivery trucks 100 per cent electric by 2030, and we know that will only be possible with the support of sustainability leaders like Zenobē,” said Woolworths head of last mile innovation and partnerships Wendy Briggs said in a statement.
The Mascot site will have 22 charging ports and a second life battery made from repurposed EV batteries.
While Woolworths is the cornerstone customer, the site is open to all comers keen to charge their electric trucks, Zenobē says.
The company expects work on the charging hub to begin in September and be ready early next year.
The project will be an example of one way companies can electrify their heavy fleets, says ARENA CEO Darren Miller, without a significant investment in equipment and infrastructure.
“As customers become more used to having their groceries delivered, it makes sense to find renewable energy solutions to do so,” he said in a statement.
“Transport plays a vital role in Australia’s economy and contributes to 20 per cent of emissions. ARENA is excited to fund projects like this finding solutions to the problem.”
Last mile trucking is one of the low hanging fruits that funders such as ARENA are targeting.
In June the federal green bank invested $12.8 million into last mile delivery company ANC’s $45.5 million Project Spark, which is designed to address barriers in electrifying the truck owner-driver segment with discounted leasing options and improved charging infrastructure.
ARENA helped logistics company Team Global Express to buy 60 electric last mile delivery trucks in 2022.
The company followed that up this year with funding from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to add more than 300 electric trucks, vans and mobile charging stations.
And in January a company called Foton Mobility Distribution introduced the Asiastar brand to the Australian market, stepping in to supply light-duty vehicles for last mile and inner city jobs.
Rachel Williamson is a science and business journalist, who focuses on climate change-related health and environmental issues.
Tesla celebrates its 100th Australian supercharger site with a green and gold supercharger stall.
The first electric concrete truck mixer in Australia is undergoing trials in Melbourne, and will…
Chinese battery giant unveils electric bus battery that boasts an industry-leading energy density of 175Wh/kg…
More than 1400 electric vehicles have been recalled in Australia due to a serious issue…
The increasing demand for EV infrastructure has created a highly competitive market for EV charging…
Skoda announces pricing and opens orders for its first fully electric model heading to Australia,…
View Comments
Would love to see these charging facilities integrated into loading facilities rather than parking lots. Less land, less down time, opportunity to use the battery for the business. Good to see it start some where though.
Yes, charging in the loading bay sounds like a no-brainer if the timing works.
Not as simple as it sounds though and not necessarily easy to retrofit. Loading bays can be a pretty intense and high risk workspace and introducing a largish, heavy cable carrying a pretty high current needs to be done with consideration. The mentality of some EV drivers who think that’s it a good idea to charge using a granny charger, extension cord draped across the garage ( or worse, footpath) plugged into a GPO does not translate into that environment.
Working with ANC last year in Perth with my little electric van (BYD T3) I could've used somewhere to charge while on standby for sure.
Between jobs I'd sit in the shade somewhere on standby, dreaming of the day the DB Schenker warehouse (or the ANC office) would have a power point in the car park for EV charging.
My range is around 250km around town and on the few days I got range-anxious even a 15A power point would've solved the problem.
Thankfully Dodd & Dodd was just around the corner in Forrestfield for a quick DC topup. :)
Update:
Australia's 'biggest city' is NOW Melbourne.
(From geographers......by 130,000)
All depends on where one draws the boundary… which is entirely arbitrary.
Great Idea, Charging in a Depo.
More tax payers money.
No money for nurses or teachers.
Cleaner air for nurses and teachers, who will then live longer.
“Woolworths is particularly keen on this solution as it sidesteps “significant” operational and financial uncertainties such as securing sufficient power, installing and maintaining charging infrastructure, replacing batteries, maintaining a reliable service, and keeping costs down, the company says. “
Great. The Australian Taxpayers are going to pick up the tab for Woolworths home deliveries. Until it proves unviable and Woolworths goes back to their own trucks. What is the point of your existence ARENA?
Piss our money up against the wall.
What does any agency do? (outside of a few notorious exceptions)
Kowtow or risk defunding.
The EPA for example, so emasculated by politics that their recommendations can be ignored or ridiculed.
22 x 120 kW dual port chargers so either 2.6 or 6 MW maximum power draw. Equivalent to one mainline rail freight locomotive.
The difference is that the loco really draws that max current while it will never happen that all 44 outlets charge at the peak rating at any given time. There are enormous charge hubs for EVs overseas and the peak load is not an issue.
This will be interesting especially during the summer period. These trucks boxes are usually divided into 2. 1 part for frozen and one part for fridge. They use a lot of power with the door opening and closing and hot air coming in. In an ICE vehicle they run off a separate compressor (another belt of the motor), but in these I presume they will just run off the battery. Whenever they stop for a delivery, the motor keeps going.
Yes, instead of wastefully running the Diesel at high idle and contaminating the air at the loading bay an electric HV compressor does that job clean, quiet and efficiently. The amount of energy required is relatively low compared to the energy needs of the drive train.
Meanwhile in Europe drive through charging stations for long distance trucks are being installed using the MCS (Megwatt Charging Standard). The truckers legislated rest time is more than sufficient to recharge those trucks. And in Australia ARENA is funding Hydrogen trucks (= wasting taxpayers money) , which have proven 3-5 times as expensive to run.