SCA – new electric timber truck with a crane is finally rolling in the Östavall area. The truck, which is a collaborative project between SCA and Scania, is the first in the world to collect timber in the forest for further transport to a timber terminal.
Rolf Lövgren. Photo: Misan Lindqvist
The yellow SCA timber truck moves almost silently into the timber terminal in Östavall. Behind the wheel sits Rolf Lövgren of Lövgrens Åkeri & Entreprenad. He owns the new timber truck with support from SCA and has driven it for a few days
“It is very quiet and comfortable to drive, and I don’t get as mentally tired as I can after a full day with background noise from the engine. It is very positive,” says Rolf and continues:
“It takes a while to get to know the truck and learn how to drive it in the best way to conserve the battery. You want to charge more than you consume. If I have 50 percent battery left at the end of the day, I have stood still and charged unnecessarily. It will be exciting to see how it performs during the winter.”
Important milestone
Photo: Olle Melkerhed
The new electric timber truck marks another important milestone for SCA and the work to electrify heavy timber transports. The truck is expected to result in 170 tons lower carbon dioxide emissions per year compared to a regular timber truck.
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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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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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“This is an important project for us to continue contributing to a more sustainable society,” said Ulf Larsson, CEO of SCA. “By managing the forest and making renewable products that can replace those with a high carbon footprint, SCA creates about 13 million tons of positive climate benefits each year. That figure can become even better as we transition the heavy road transports in our value chain.”
“It is exciting that it’s finally in place. From the first conversations with Scania, it took just over two years for this electric timber truck with a crane to become a reality. Our first electric timber truck only runs between the terminal and Obbola paper mill, but now our development work continues as we electrify the transports from the forest to the terminal,” said Anton Ahlinder, Business Developer at SCA Skog.
The new electric timber truck is part of the forest industry’s innovation project TREE, which aims for half of the new trucks in the forest industry to be electric by 2030. SCA is one of several participants.
“Östavall is one of the places where there should be electric timber trucks. We are aiming for a total of 12 trucks, six like this one that SCA has now put into operation and six chip trucks,” said Gunnar Svensson from Skogforsk and coordinator for the TREE project.
SCA is responsible for a significant part of the financing of the electric timber truck, but the vehicle is owned by Lövgrens Åkeri & Entreprenad.
“To make the transition successful, we need to have haulage companies with us, and therefore it is good that this vehicle is owned by a local company. Then, we will need price pressure on the vehicles, more charging infrastructure, a better power grid, and that working time regulations offer flexibility related to charging. Then the heavy traffic will gradually move towards more electrification,” says Ulf Larsson.
Photo: Olle Melkerhed
About the TREE project
TREE stands for Transition to efficient electrified forestry transport. Projektet last between November 2023 and November 2026 with support från FFI (Fordonsstrategisk Forskning och Innovation) at Vinnova. If the project reaches its goal of having 50 percent of the new trucks in the forest industry electrified by 2030, it will result in a reduction of 260,000 tons of emissions.
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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