Tree: Transition To Efficient Electrified Forestry Transport

The transition to electric heavy road transport in forestry is to a great extent a system change. It is not just about replacing diesel with electrically powered vehicles, but it is required that the entire system around transport and electricity supply be developed and adapted, a development in which many of the steps must be synchronized. TREE is a project where system innovation can take place through the many parties working together and jointly creating the desired development. TREE is a project that runs over three years, and which will realize solutions for the electrification of heavy transport in an extensive system demonstration, spread over seven different locations in Sweden. The solutions that will be demonstrated include 12 battery electric timber and chip trucks with a gross vehicle weight of 64-90+ tons, mobile energy hubs, e-trailer (with battery and driven axle), advanced route planning and developed business models. The seven locations are spread from the north to the south of Sweden, representing a great variety in transport conditions. The locations will be hubs for knowledge building, research and innovation in vehicle technology innovation, electricity and charging, transport planning, business models, and system understanding. The project will also build knowledge about the impact of policies and environmental factors, as well as produce an industry-wide roadmap for transition to electrified heavy road transport. In the project, which is led by Skogforsk (Forestry Research Institute of Sweden), there are actors who represent different roles in the value chain; forest companies, logistics companies, haulage companies, loading companies, technology companies, and universities. The project's overall goal is to contribute to 50% of forestry's new trucks being electrified by 2030 and is run with support from the R&D program FFI (Vehicle Strategic Research and Innovation) at Vinnova (Sweden's Innovation Agency) and the Swedish Energy Agency. This presentation will report the barriers and opportunities regarding the electrification of heavy transport that we have identified and will address in the project, the structure of the project, as well as details regarding, for example, the vehicles that will be put into operation in 2024.