A Sydney based electric road freight operator has announced it has secured funding to accelerate the electrification of its road freight fleet.
New Energy Transport (NET) claims it has secured funding to fast-track the electrification of its road freight with the first of its electric trucks expected to be operational before the end of this year.
New Energy or NET as it calls itself has already garnered some publicity after operating solar powered refrigerated trailers on some runs between Sydney and Canberra and says that it will be adopting a pioneering modular approach to road freight electrification in a move that it says will accelerate its path to market.
It says it intends to provide large transport buyers reliable, cost-effective and all-electric road freight. and that the plan will see itinvest in twenty new electric prime movers supported by six mobile ultra-fast charger units strategically placed on heavy road freight corridors throughout NSW.
The company says that its equity raising was backed by institutional investors including Jekara Group, as well as leading family offices and high-net-worth investors.
NET claims it has unlocked an initial $5 million in funding and is expected to attract further investment as the company scales up and that it is facilitated by net zero advisory firm Pollination,
The co-CEO, of New Energy Transport Daniel Bleakley, said the company is excited to be announcing the investment and the rollout of its rapid deployment plan.
‘We’ve seen a surge in demand from some of Australia’s largest transport buyers and this backing means we can meet that demand by providing reliable electric road freight in Australia before the end of the year,” Bleakley said.
“The modular and mobile charging units we’ve selected aren’t fixed to the ground, they sit on a frame, plug into the grid and are ready for commercial operation within weeks,”the NET boss said.
“This technological solution means the charging units can be redeployed to new locations in the future to enable NET to service new corridors including into regional and rural Australia,” he added.
“This is an additional, flexible capability that supports our plans to build Australia’s largest heavy electric trucking depot and connect the entire east coast road freight corridor in the next five years,” said Bleakley.
NET claims it is building Australia’s first vertically integrated electric freight platform, the centrepiece of which is what is claimed to be Australia’s largest planned heavy electric trucking depot, situated at Wilton on Sydney’s South western fringes.
The company says it was recently selected under the Federal Government’s Investor Front Door program as a project of national significance.
The company says its Wilton depot is expected to be operational in late 2027 with an initial capacity for 50 trucks, which it claims will expand to 200 over time, anchoring freight corridors between Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle and Canberra.
NET also claims it is progressing plans for a network of electric road freight depots connecting Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane by 2031.
NET’s says its accelerated plans build momentum toward its vision, and will allow the company to establish commercial operations and performance data to inform expansion.
The company claims its modular and mobile chargers will be operational within 16 weeks, with its 20 electric trucks capable of delivering 10,000 kilometres of fully loaded line haul freight capacity per day, saving a claimed 2.5 million litres of diesel per year.
It says the modular charging approach can help address Australia’s immediate fuel security challenges while also extending the operational range of electric trucks into regional areas.
NET says its vision is to deploy the mobile and modular units to serve freight corridors in agricultural food bowls such as Yass and Griffith in NSW in the near future.
“We’ve proven electric trucks deliver significant productivity and economic benefits, recently completing Australia’s first end-to-end electric road freight delivery from Sydney to Canberra on a single charge, faster and at lower cost than pre-war diesel. The bottleneck for electrifying road freight isn’t the technology; it’s the charging infrastructure. NET’s additional rapid deployment plan addresses this challenge head on,” said co-CEO of New Energy Transport, Fredrik Pehrsson.
“With further diesel price shocks anticipated, the business case for electric heavy road freight has never been clearer.Stable, predictable and lower freight costs are a genuine competitive advantage, and the companies moving first in Australia are the ones that will secure that advantage,” said Pehrsson.
