Australia has a major opportunity to improve productivity by electrifying road freight on the major corridors.
The economic case has become outstandingly clear over the past couple of years and there are essentially no barriers. The payback period is just 2-4 years, depending on whether you’re replacing diesel trucks at end-of-life (2 years) or building the fleet from scratch (4 years).
An International Megawatt Charging Standard also exists that enables you to charge your 700 kWh electric truck battery at a rate of 1 MW, so just 1 hour to charge.
About 22 million tonnes per year of freight travels the 900 km between Sydney and Melbourne. It works to about 1.2 billion freight kilometres.
When you work the fuel saving maths through, this means that if fully electrified, the industry would save about $0.9 billion per year in fuel costs, even before the balance of trade , time savings, energy security and other benefits.
I estimate the capital costs to fully electrify at about $4 billion, so a payback of under 5 years. But if you only count the incremental costs — that is, the charging stations and the extra cost of buying an electric semi over a diesel one — then the total incremental capex is about $2.5 billion and that’s a payback of less than 3 years.
In China about 200,000 electric semis are sold every year. It’s proven technology available pretty much off the shelf.
In other industries, eg electricity transmission, Australia has followed other countries and as a result we get caught up in the global rush when the whole world wants to do the same thing at one time. That pushes costs up, see eg transmission lines and transformers.
Australia has a very long freight distribution system, fully vulnerable to an oil supply disruption. Going early and committing fully to electrifying heavy transport and using the Sydney to Melbourne corridor as the proof of concept is a no brainer. An absolute no brainer. The economics are outstanding, the need is obvious.
If I have the sums wrong, or have missed something important I’m more than happy to have it pointed out.
Figure 1: Electric freight cost comparison: Sydney-Melbourne corridor
Three key technological developments have made this possible.
If the economics are as good as they seem the private sector will get there off its own bat. An opportunity to undercut the existing players by a significant amount will surely be picked up. Think Uber, think AirBnB.
However. the market for the product is not consumers, it’s for those businesses like Coles and Woolworths that are major consumers of freight. There may be many reasons why a small group of large businesses are slow to embrace change.
The role of policy could possibly be a nudge. In the end it is going to take $bns of capex. Not that many $bns but capital that has to be raised. For the private sector to invest its not only the economics that have to be attractive, it helps if policy is supportive, but most of all it will come down to the business seeking to raise capital and their credibility.
What I do know is that productivity is stalling in Australia, that our goods distribution system is ridiculously over dependent on diesel and transport costs are way higher than they need to be.
Only a few years ago the accepted wisdom was that hydrogen would be needed to decarbonise semi trailers. Since hydrogen was expensive and dangerous, the only action required was further research.
However the improving technology and plunging cost of batteries has turned that discussion on its head.
The basic concept is that a 60 tonne truck fully charged at the outset can get to Melbourne with just one charging stop, and the charge takes an hour.
Every electric km costs 1/3 the diesel cost. To do this requires the right trucks and the right charging stations. Then depending on how you count the payback is either 4 years (starting from scratch) or 2 years (replacing diesel trucks at the end of their life).
The ideas are coupled together. Because of the range only a few dedicated recharging stations are needed. These are purpose built designed to handle 50-100 MW loads running 20 hours a day. With 100 x 1 MW bays, each doing 20 charges daily, one station can charge 2,000 trucks per day.
With 100 drivers on site at any time, the station can support amenities like kitchens and showers. Along the highway you could probably build a 100 MW solar farm and batteries but of course you want a 100 MW grid connection.
And even 2,000 charges a day is only good for say 100,000 tonnes of freight a day. You really need about 12x 50 bay stations or 6 x 100 Bay stations. But that’s still no problem spread out over 900 km right next to Humelink.
From a big picture point of view, if this is a good idea then so is Sydney to Brisbane, Sydney to Newcastle is a doddle.
Avoiding the imported fuel cost immediately improves the balance of trade and improves our energy security.
Instead of China copying the West, it’s now time for us to copy China. China’s investment and subsidies can benefit Australia as much as they benefit China.
In effect, we benefit from Chinese subsidies when purchasing their EVs. If China wants to subsidize Australians buying EVs I say go for it. But in this discussion what we are buying is China’s investment in heavy electric vehicle know how. They have proved the technology up.
China now has more than 9,000 public charging stations dedicated to heavy-duty electric trucks, covering major logistics corridors, industrial clusters, ports, and mining zones (Anengjie Energy, 2025). This is an order of magnitude ahead of either the US or Europe.
You can see from the CREF visualisation below that China is now selling about 200,000 electric semi trailers a year, 1 million trucks and more than a few buses. China’s electric semitrailer share is about 33% below cars but on the rise.
Figure 2: China transport, Source: Carbon Brief/CREF
Fuel represents a major operating cost for diesel trucks.
Cost per km comparison
| Electric (1.9?) kWh/km | Diesel (50?) L/100km | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy rate | $0.15/kWh | $2.00/L |
| Energy cost/km | $0.285 | $1.00 |
| Service cost/km | $0.014 | $0.031 |
| Running cost/km | $0.30 | $1.03 |
Can you get electricity at $150/MWh? I think the answer is clearly yes, if you buy enough of it and you are close enough to transmission.
So every KM an electric semi travels is $0.70 cheaper than diesel.
We are roughly talking $0.5 million v $0.25 million. If we assume the electrics are replacing diesels as they retire then its only the difference that is relevant.
Think I must have been asleep for the past couple of years. It turns out there is a heavy vehicle charging standard (Megawatt Charging Standard), first announced in 2018 the specification document was completed about 2024.
Unsurprisingly it turns out China is far ahead of the rest of the world but even in the USA there are 2 MW truck charging stations.
Estimated Purpose-Built Truck Charging Facility Costs
| Region | Facility | Scale | Cost (US$M) | Cost per Bay (US$k) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | Kettleman City (CA) | 56 chargers, 1 MW BESS, 3.9 MW solar | 58 | ~1,040 |
| USA | Generic 100-truck depot | 100 chargers (hardware only) | 21 | ~210 |
| Europe | Milence network (implied) | 1,700 points across 30+ hubs | 500 (EUR) | ~294 (EUR) |
| China | Huawei 100 MW hub | 126 bays (18×1.44MW + 108x600kW) | 21 | ~166 |
| China | BYD charger unit only | Per liquid-cooled unit | — | 11-14 |
The range is wide. The Kettleman City project at US$58 million includes substantial on-site generation and storage, land acquisition on an interstate corridor, and California construction costs.
The Huawei facility at US$21 million is a much larger installation by bay count but benefits from Chinese cost structures and an existing industrial site. The University of Chicago’s US$21 million estimate for a 100-truck depot covers hardware and electrical infrastructure only, excluding land, buildings, and on-site generation.
Across the globe an estimate for a purpose-built, grid-connected truck charging hub with 20–50 high-power (1+ MW) charging bays is:
The single largest variable is grid connection cost. A 20 MW grid connection can require transformer and switchgear upgrades costing US$3–8 million, with lead times of 12–24 months for electrical equipment (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2025; TeraWatt Infrastructure, 2025). Sites with existing heavy industrial grid connections (ports, mining sites, former factories) have a major cost advantage.
Peak Charge Rates by System (2025–2026) (source:Internet research
| System | Max Power (MW) | Status | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCS standard (theoretical max) | 3.75 | Standard published | Global |
| Huawei supercharger | 1.44 | Deployed | China |
| Tesla Megacharger | 1.20 | Operational (2 sites) | USA |
| ABB MCS charger | 1.20 | Shipping | Global |
| BYD Flash Charging | 1.00–1.50 | Deploying | China |
| Kempower MCS | 1.00+ | Available | Europe |
| Scania MCS (Gen 1) | 0.75 | Trucks from mid-2026 | Europe |
The practical ceiling for deployed truck chargers in early 2026 is 1.44 MW (Huawei), with the MCS standard allowing headroom to 3.75 MW as battery technology and grid infrastructure mature. Most OEMs are targeting 1.0–1.2 MW as the initial commercial sweet spot, which delivers a 20–80% charge in under 30 minutes for current battery capacities (typically 600–900 kWh for a Class 8 truck).
The most impressive single facility is the “Sichuan Yuanqi Xingguang Heavy-Duty Truck Megawatt Supercharging Station” in Beichuan, Sichuan Province, which commenced operations in August 2025 (Electrive, 2025; Interesting Engineering, 2025).
Huawei 100 MW Facility Specifications
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Total designed capacity | 100 MW |
| Supercharging bays | 18 at 1.44 MW each |
| Fast charging bays | 108 at 600 kW each |
| Site area | 11.5 acres (4.7 hectares) |
| Construction cost | US$20.9 million |
| Daily throughput | 700 trucks / 300,000+ kWh |
| On-site solar | ~1 MW photovoltaic canopy |
| Charge speed (3.5C trucks) | ~100 km range in 5 minutes |
To that we can add:
The Double B configuration is common. Of course, there are many different semi configurations doing Sydney to Melbourne.
Figure 3: Double B, original Getty
Anengjie Energy. (2025). China reaches 9,000 heavy-duty truck charging stations as megawatt-scale charging accelerates nationwide. https://anengjienergy.com/china-reaches-9000-heavy-duty-truck-charging-stations-as-megawatt-scale-charging-accelerates-nationwide/
Electrive. (2025). Huawei opens truck charging park in china. https://www.electrive.com/2025/08/25/huawei-opens-truck-charging-park-in-china/
Interesting Engineering. (2025). China’s huawei unveils world’s first 100MW charging hub to power trucks. https://interestingengineering.com/energy/china-huawei-worlds-first-100mw-charging
National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2025). The dawn of electric trucking calls for high-power charging. https://www.nrel.gov/news/features/2025/the-dawn-of-electric-trucking-calls-for-high-power-charging.htmlTeraWatt Infrastructure. (2025). Buy vs build: How heavy-duty fleet operators should weigh their EV charging infrastructure options. https://www.terawattinfrastructure.com/blog/buy-vs-build-how-heavy-duty-fleet-operators-should-weigh-their-ev-charging-infrastructure-options
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