Electrifying Australia’s road freight sector

ARENA engaged AECOM to develop Australia's first national blueprint for battery-electric freight transition. It outlines energy needs, infrastructure gaps, operational challenges, and policy considerations across urban, intrastate, and interstate freight.

Can Australia power an all-electric freight fleet?

Australia's road freight industry is an economic powerhouse, contributing 8.6% of our GDP[1]. Road freight accounts for over 80% of freight emissions and around one-third of Australia's total transport emissions, equivalent to 36 million tonnes of CO2 annually.

As freight is expected to grow by 77% by 2050[2], electrifying this sector is essential to meeting our national climate goals.  Electrifying Road Freight[3], reports on a comprehensive assessment of transitioning vehicles operating in the freight sector across all use cases, from small urban delivery vans to large interstate trucks. It considers the feasibility against Australia's current and future power supply (generation, transmission and distribution).

It examines operational models, vehicles, use cases, timelines, infrastructure requirements, barriers, benchmarks and market trends. It provides the sector with confidence in Australia's readiness to electrify all road freight.

Services

Our full spectrum of services included:

How did we assess freight sector readiness?

We developed a bespoke Power BI dashboard that provided comprehensive insights into the freight industry and vehicle movements.  

https://aecom-9.wistia.com/medias/gjaw2ivgcf

We developed an innovative methodology using a range of data sources, information, and analytical techniques to pioneer the quantification of energy demands that converted current fuel usage into kilowatts and gigawatts. This innovative approach enabled the mapping of a network of required charging locations across Australia against delivery stages, and the creation of a phased implementation plan.

This mapping of charging requirements allowed us to determine energy infrastructure needs against the existing power supply networks.  We analysed energy requirements against future forecasts at state and national levels, identifying gaps between power supply infrastructure and transport needs; a first-of-its-kind solution to align energy and transport systems. 

What did the Electrifying Road Freight Report find?

There is a strong opportunity to undertake a wide-scale and targeted program to electrify Australia's road freight sector. However, a wide cross-sector of government agencies will need to be engaged with and directed to target road freight electrification as a key priority. 

The report's key takeaways?

References

1. ^ contributing 8.6% of our GDP (www.infrastructure.gov.au)
2. ^ grow by 77% by 2050 (www.bitre.gov.au)
3. ^ Electrifying Road Freight (arena.gov.au)