Hawke’s Bay becomes first region to introduce EV truck to shipping container depot
A new EV truck will be used to move containers to and from Napier Port.
New Zealand’s leading independent container storage and servicing business ContainerCo today announced it will introduce the New Zealand made Kahu EV medium duty truck as part of a four region EV Truck roll out.
ContainerCo’s ContainerLink division general manager Brent Batters said the Kahu EV, has the capability to move shipping containers between ContainerCo’s Mersey Street depot and Napier Port up to 18 times on one charge. It has a range of 150 kilometres and can carry up to three 20 foot containers or two 40ft containers.
“This is a game changer for us. We are driven to transitioning to a sustainable and environment-friendly fleet and reducing both our carbon footprint but also those local, national and international companies we service.
“Another huge benefit, especially in Napier, is that the short journey between our depot and the port will be close to silent, which will please many of the local residents that live in Ahuriri.”
ContainerCo has led the way in introducing EV trucks at its depots, launching its first EV generation truck in 2019 at its Auckland depot.
ContainerCo operates facilities that handle hundreds of thousands of shipping containers around the country and sees the huge potential in the electrification of a wide range of vehicles including forklifts, cranes, and support vehicles.
The company is excited about its partnership with Kahu EV, based in Palmerston North to build the Napier EV truck, a EK16S, which will be used as a protype for the next three trucks to be used at ContainerCo depots in Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga.
The Kahu EK16S is the first wholly New Zealand designed, constructed and certified medium duty electric truck.
ContainerCo is also installing a onsite fast charger in partnership with Jump Charging, a specialist in the supply of commercial electric vehicle charge and green hydrogen fuelling infrastructure solutions.
The Siemens Sicharge D, 160kw fast charger allows us to do a top up charge during the drivers required break.
“Our electric truck works all day every day, and we are now able to just pull up, the driver has a break, plugs into the charger, and we’re given a good boost to keep going for the rest of the day.
“We can get the battery down to 20% and charge it back up to 80% within around 40 minutes, so compared to the old technology where that would be three or four hours, it’s a game changer.”
ContainerCo chief executive Wayne Johnson says the electric truck marks an important step in reducing air and noise emissions.
“We operate our container hire, sales and services businesses from sites right around the country and the ability to silently and cleanly move containers to and from rail and ports in urban environments is a big step forward,” Harris says.
“We can see a lot more units in our fleet in the future as well as EV’s replacing diesel powered forklifts inside our facilities quite soon.”
