AUSTRALIA: Technical Audio Group is now making carbon neutral deliveries around Sydney with an all-electric, solar charged eight-tonne truck.
Having long wanted to improve the certainty of local deliveries particularly those direct to work sites where access is limited and where timing needs to be flexible and reliable Team TAG researched the options and settled on the SEA 300 EV.
“As a service to our customers we want to guarantee deliveries and we were finding that local couriers just don’t have the flexibility to wait and make sure difficult deliveries are completed,” said TAG warehouse manager, Shane Linfoot. “You can’t blame them they’re on a tight schedule and have to complete their runs, but it doesn’t work when one of our deliveries is critical and that’s why we made the decision to take control of those sort of deliveries ourselves.”
“On paper an eight-tonne electric truck is an eye-watering investment that doesn’t make financial sense,” stated TAG CFO Craig Durrant. “If it was purely a business decision, we wouldn’t have taken the leap but there are much bigger factors at play here, like the environment and the condition of the planet we pass onto the next generation. Every time tag|zero hits the road it serves as a powerful reminder that a carbon neutral solution is not only possible but in fact a serious and viable option. And the lack of exhaust emissions is something everyone out in traffic can enjoy immediately.”
It took 18 months for TAG’s SEA 300 EV to be delivered. The SEA 300 EV utilises a Hino chassis with the diesel engine and gearbox replaced by a SEA-Drive electric power system plus batteries sufficient for a 220km range. The company manufactures around five electric trucks every week at its Dandenong, Victoria facility.
With a 108Kw solar array on its Kings Park warehouse roof, tag|zero is charged directly from the sun. “There’s something beautiful and compelling about turning sunlight into local deliveries.” said Linfoot. “We’re working our solar array pretty hard now with nine electric warehouse vehicles, the odd EV charging up and now tag|zero. Nonetheless if you’re passing by, you’re still very welcome to drop in for some free juice, and if you see tag|zero on the road please give us a wave.”
