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Electric trucks are finally ready for prime time. Could high oil prices speed up the shift? (theconversation.com)

submitted 4 months ago by Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone to c/environment@aussie.zone

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[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

To run them over Australia-scale distances, you’d need to keep recharging them throughout the journey, otherwise most of the load will be the battery. Recharging takes time, so to be time-efficient, you’d want to do so in motion, by running catenary over the roads and equipping the trucks with pantographs like electric trains (there’s a highway in Germany with such an arrangement). At that stage, you may as well electrify the nation’s railways and rely on rail freight (rail can both go faster and run more efficiently, at the cost of needing to offload goods for the last mile), though much of Australia’s railways are still diesel (the electrified ones are mostly suburban).

The oil price shock (and the reality of climate change) should be motivating countries like Australia to electrify their railways. On any line with more than a handful of trains a day it’ll pay for itself. Though Australians seem to not be into long-term thinking, and can’t get past the immediate cost of thousands of kilometres of copper wire. I can imagine them short-terming themselves into shelling out for fleets of heavy Tesla trucks that will spend most of their time charging, because in the immediate term, it feels like the path of least resistance.

[–] Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone 3 points 4 months ago

So the Western Australian Government last year didn't renew the ~40 year contract for the States railways that were sold on lease to private interests 20 years or so ago, and have in large parts been leftvto rot. Another case of private ownership being an inefficient use of reaources, but thats besdies the point. So the WA Government have begun the 20 year process of transitioning the railways back into government ownership.

I'm not sure that they have a clear plan yet, but they obviously have some aspirations for getting a rail network for freight across the wheatbelt going again. So maybe they're thinking what you're thinking. But its an example of long term thinking in this area.