SCA and Rolf Lövgrens Åkeri recently commissioned the TREE project’s second vehicle – an all-electric 74-tonne timber truck with a crane. The Scania truck is rolling in Medelpad, including around the terminal in Östavall.
Photo: Olle Melkerhed
SCA recently commissioned an all-electric timber truck with a crane. The truck will roll in Medelpad and circle around SCA’s timber terminal in Östavall, among other places. The car is owned by Rolf Lövgrens Åkeri och Entreprenad AB with support from SCA and is the second car to be commissioned in the research and innovation project TREE (Transition to efficient elctrified forestry transport). The project is funded by 21 partner companies and Vinnova via FFI, Strategic Vehicle Research and Innovation.
“It feels good that we are now really up and running with the first two trucks in the project – the timber truck in Östavall and the wood chip truck in Skoghall. Now we will study how they perform in terms of performance, charging, range and overall economy compared to conventional diesel vehicles. This is done in collaboration between hauliers, transport buyers, technology suppliers and research actors within TREE,” says Gunnar Svenson, senior researcher at the project coordinator Skogforsk.
An obvious difference is that electric drive is quieter than diesel-powered, which the driver and vehicle owner, Rolf Lövgren, notes:
“It’s very quiet and nice to drive it and I don’t get as tired in the head as you can get after a full day with background noise from the engine. It’s very positive,” he says and continues:
“It takes a while to get to know the car and know how to drive it in the best way to save battery. You want to charge more than you consume. If I have 50 percent battery left at the end of the day, I’ve been standing still and charging unnecessarily. Then it will be exciting to see how it works during the winter.”
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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.
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Goal: new electric cars
As mentioned, the new electric timber truck is part of the forest industry’s innovation project TREE, which is working to ensure that half of the forest industry’s new trucks will be electric by 2030. SCA is one of 21 partners in the project.
“Östavall is one of the places, demonstration sites, in Sweden where there will be electric timber trucks. We will have 12 cars in total at seven sites, six like this car that SCA has now put into operation. Several wood chip trucks will also be available on the demo sites,” says Gunnar Svenson, Forestry Research Institute of Sweden.
The new electric timber truck marks an important milestone for the TREE project and the work to electrify heavy timber transport. The car is estimated to produce 170 tonnes less carbon dioxide emissions per year compared to a regular timber truck.
“If the transition is to succeed, we need to have the hauliers with us, and therefore it is good that this vehicle is owned by a local company. Then there will be pressure on the price of vehicles, more charging infrastructure, better electricity grids and that the working time rules offer flexibility linked to charging. Then the heavy traffic will gradually move towards more electrified,” says Ulf Larsson, President of SCA.
Forest Machine Magazine is written and edited by a forest professional with over 40 years hands on experience. We are dedicated to keeping you informed with all the latest news, views and reviews from our industry.
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