Positive drivers drive 12 functional electric trucks, partly with AI-supported transport planning. This is how project manager Anna Pernestål sums up TREE, which has come just over halfway. An upscaling is the next step.
Lifting electricity and pushing down the diesel. Anna Pernestål, project manager for the electrification project TREE, has an upscaling of electrically powered forest transports in mind.
Photo: Xulio Gonzalez, Skogforsk
But this is still not the first thing project manager Anna Pernestål mentions when she is asked to give examples of insights from electrification projects so far. Spontaneously, she is pleased with the great commitment of the participants. The project brings together 24 actors in the transport and forestry industry to develop electrified truck transport.
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That’s a remarkable amount of work hours for a single machine, the Norcar 600 owned by Erkki Rinne is taken well care of, it even has the original Diesel engine.
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Kieran Anders is a forestry contractor working in the lake district. His work involves hand cutting and extracting timber using a skidder and tractor-trailer forwarder.
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It is not possible to eliminate chain shot, but there are simple steps that can be taken to reduce the risk.
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Arwel takes great pride in the fact that the mill has no waste whatsoever, “the peelings are used for children’s playgrounds, gardens and for farm animals in barns in the winter and the sawdust has multiple uses in gardens and farms as well.
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Timber hauliers need to encourage young blood in, and also look after the hauliers we have, we need make the sector a safe and positive place to work.
FIND US ON
“The commitment and drive are what I think is the most cool. It is absolutely crucial for the good development we have had. No one gives up, but we continue to work together,” says Anna Pernestål.
Data from the twelve electric vehicles in operation is now being collected for analysis. And so far, the results have even been better than expected, according to Anna Pernestål.
“Yes, the vehicles work better than we thought from the beginning. The technology has even worked well in severe winter cold in northern Sweden, which is impressive,” she says.
The electric trucks are thus well up to the task, but at the same time major challenges remain when it comes to charging.
“We need to achieve cost-effective charging, both in time and money. Charging needs to be faster and costs need to be reduced,” says Anna Pernestål, while emphasizing that the costs are not just about the electricity price itself:
“No, it is also about investments in charging infrastructure, electricity grids and power tariffs.
Boost for the work environment
The TREE project has also shown that electric drive improves the working environment for truck drivers. Many people appreciate the electric trucks while feeling that they are contributing to the transition.
“Drivers feel that they are part of the solution instead of the problem,” says Anna Pernestål.
At the same time, the economy is still a challenge for hauliers, as electric transport is often more expensive than diesel-powered transport today. But within TREE, heavy electric transport is also being tested in the form of a 94-tonne vehicle. The results show that, with today’s charging standards, the vehicle is just as transport-efficient as a traditional, diesel-powered 74-tonne vehicle.
“With faster charging, the efficiency of the 94-tonne truck could also increase by up to 40 percent,” says Anna Pernestål.
However, not all parts of the project have developed exactly as planned from the beginning. Some solutions have had to be changed, and some parts have been delayed. But according to Anna Pernestål, it is a natural part of innovation work.
“If everything had turned out exactly as we thought from the beginning, we wouldn’t really have needed to have an innovation project,” she says.
Anna Pernestål, Skogforsk
Scaling up the next step
TREE is now entering the next phase. The focus is shifting from showing that the technology works to investigating how electrification can be scaled up. These include charging infrastructure, business models, transport planning and what regulations are needed to accelerate the transition.
According to the overall project goal, which was set at the start of the project in the autumn of 2023, half of all newly purchased trucks in the forest industry will be electrified by 2030. And despite the fact that the goal is ambitious, Anna Pernestål feels that the response from the industry has been positive and curious rather than sceptical.
“Every time I present the project, I think that someone will say ‘that will never work’. But that hasn’t actually happened,” says Anna Pernestål.
The project has also become well-known in the transport sector and attracted international interest. Among other things, TREE will present four research papers at the major international transport conference, the World Conference on Transportation Research. The conference will be held in Toulouse, France, on 6–10 July this year.
“It’s quite impressive that we, from one and the same project, have succeeded in this,” says Anna Penestål.
The TREE (Transition to efficient, electrified forestry transport) project
Budget: SEK 157 million
Funding: Vinnova via FFI (Strategic Vehicle Research and Innovation) and the project’s partners
Time period: 2024–2027
Vision: that half of the forest industry’s newly purchased trucks will be electrified by 2030.
Coordinator: Skogforsk
The project is run by 24 partners, representing forest companies, logistics companies, vehicle manufacturers, technology and logistics suppliers and research actors:
Skogforsk, Scania, Stora Enso, Sveaskog, Södra, SCA, Traton, Holmen, Closer, LBC Frakt Värmland, Dalafrakt, Timber Logistics Central Sweden, VSV Unite, Alltransport Östergötland, OP Höglunds, Laddbolaget, Milence, Edri, Gito, Zelk Energy, bev_r, Biometria, Linköping University and KTH.
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Written by loggers for loggers and dedicated solely to the equipment used in forestry operations.