Genesis' first electric gas delivery truck hits the road with more than 50 to come

Monday, 12 July 2021

Norman Vaili, truck driver with Genesis energy, says he enjoys driving an electric truck more than a diesel model.

Norman Vaili has been driving trucks for the past four years, but today is the first time he has driven one powered by electricity.

Despite the differences from his usual diesel truck such as a silent engine, and the difference in braking, Vaili said the electric version is a lot of fun to drive.

“It’s just like driving a big orange go kart,” Vaili said.

Vaili and the rest of his trucking team are enthusiastic about the latest addition to the truck fleet.

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“It’s cool to be environmentally friendly. When you are cruising down the road and people look at you and say ‘oh this guys driving an electric truck!’, it's awesome. This is the way to go,” Vaili said.

Brad Philips, heavy fleet manager at Genesis Energy, calls on the entire transport industry to get behind electric vehicles.

Brad Philips, heavy fleet manager at Genesis Energy said the Fuso eCanter, and was Fuso’s first factory production-run electric truck to hit the roads in the Southern Hemisphere.

The 7.5 tonne eCanter has a range of 100 to 150 kilometres.

The 7.5 tonne Fuso eCanter can travel 100 to 150km on a single charge.

The truck was a step forward for the entire transport industry, Philips said.

The truck is the first of many for Genesis, which has committed to 50 per cent of its fleet being electric by 2025, he said.

Genesis’ electric truck fleet would increase to 55 in the next four years, he said.

The conversion to electric vehicles was something that Philips would like to see more transport companies get behind.

“There’s a lot of low-hanging fruit for the transport industry. We have a lot of regional distribution here, and electric vehicles really do fit with that. If we want to decarbonise transport in New Zealand this is the type of project we need to get behind,” Philips said.

The New Zealand branch of Fuso, a subsidiary to Mitsubishi that produced the eCanter, had been asking its parent company in Japan to send the trucks to New Zealand for more than five years.

Kathy Schluter, group sales manager for Fuso New Zealand, said what finally convinced the Mitsubishi was the New Zealand Government’s commitment to supporting the implementation of EVs.

“We are a country that wants to be green, and we have the targets to back it up. Those targets make a good business case for Japan to send their vehicles here,” Schluter said.

TR Group, which leases heavy vehicles to transport and logistics companies, has also ordered 110 trucks to be delivered over the next two years.

So far more than 20 companies had signed up to lease an eCanter.

TR Group managing director Brendan King , said enthusiasm for made-to-order electric trucks was high.

“The transport industry as a whole has been a big contributor to emissions, but the feeling is that we really want to do the best we can to help change that,” King said.

While electric trucks were the new toy for the moment, King said more sustainable vehicles could would be available soon.

“We are doing a lot with hydrogen vehicles. In the times coming, as the technology improves and the costs come down we are going to see a big shift towards electric and hydrogen fuel cell technology,” King said.

– An earlier version of this story, based on incorrect information provided, said the Fuso truck was the first factory-built electric truck to go into service in New Zealand and the Southern Hemisphere. Amended at 2.50pm 13 July 2021.