We spend a lot of time talking about the move to zero emission trucks here in Australia, but we don’t hear very much about the long-term preparations of everything else involved in cutting back on carbon emissions, we need to be prepared for the next stages of this development.
Where are the discussions about getting the power companies to ensure there is enough power in the right place on the electricity grid to enable a very busy trucking industry to charge all of the vehicles that it needs to charge in order to keep the Australian economy moving?
All businesses are aware of the impending changes and also know that these changes are going to impose increased costs across their businesses, but in order to make these kind of investments in the business’ future they need to know that there will be a sufficiently effective infrastructure for them to be able to make the changes, which we can anticipate will be mandated in the coming years.
Development in infrastructure is not something that can be handled overnight. These are long-term projects which take many years, and if we don’t start moving towards our planned zero missions future we are not going to make it. It doesn’t matter what targets we set.
There is also going to be a need for new technologies, like those producing green hydrogen, which will need to be developed if we are to supply hydrogen to the trucking industry in order for trucks to function, which can handle the long distances at the high masses that the Australian supply chain requires.
Grey or blue hydrogen is not going to cut it, you are just moving carbon emissions from one part of the supply chain to another. Greenwashing is not going to make much difference either, the regulators and the buying public will be looking for genuine, and provable reductions in carbon footprint.
The other option which can move us further down the zero carbon road is the substitution of diesel with hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO). It’s a great idea, but it will need a feedstock, there is not enough waste chip fat to support the current fleet, let alone the amount the truck fleet will potentially use by 2030.
Fuels like HVO will need a substantial period of development, and if we think it is going to be the silver bullet to get us over the zero carbon line, we are going to have to start planting very soon, in order to get the kind of supply of the diesel substitute required, to keep road transport and the economy moving forward through a period of change and flux for the trucking industry, as a whole.
Sounds like we have a lot of preparation to do, because we need to be prepared.
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