Cement Australia deploys electric heavy duty truck innovation

Cement Australia has recently delivered its first load in New South Wales with an electric Janus JE410, the latest addition to its fleet.

The Janus JE410 was purchased originally as a Kenworth T410 Glider and was then converted by Janus Electric into a battery electric vehicle (EV).

According to Janus, this is the first fully manufactured electric Class A truck in Australia.

Fuel tanks have been replaced with exchangeable batteries providing 620kWh in total, along with an electric blower discharge that works off the battery.

Under the bonnet, a 350kW motor is capable of producing around 490 horsepower with a range of four to six hundred kilometres, attached to a 12-speed gearbox.

The truck, rated to 70 tonnes, can also operate using a concrete plant's power by having external powers plugged into it.

Cement Australia General Manager – Supply Chain & Logistics, Blair Price, told Prime Mover that the fleet purchases around 20 Kenworth models a year and decided to have one of them electrically converted to contribute towards the cement and concrete industry's ambition for net zero carbon concrete by 2050.

"We’re traditional Kenworth customers, so we basically decided to have one of our normal trucks converted so that the transition for our drivers into a new bit of kit would be easier," he said.

"It's effectively just a standard T410 Kenworth without the driveline.

"We’ve only just taken delivery of it, so we’ll run the wheels on it for the next 12 months and then be able to put key performance indicators (KPI) up against our normal diesel ones."

Janus Electric General Manager, Lex Forsyth, told Prime Mover that after several conversations and ideas were proposed, Cement Australia decided to go ahead with the Glider's conversion.

"Cement Australia reached out to us in interests of having a deeper look at our product, and they decided that they wanted to go ahead with a new Glider," he said.

"It hasn't been an easy journey to get to this part, but Cement Australia have come along in the journey with us in developing this product.

"They’ve been great partners to work with."

The electric truck will be initially operated in Queensland and will then travel to New South Wales where it will operate out of Cement Australia's Glebe Island warehouse.

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