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https://thedriven.io/2024/05/10/dried-fruit-grower-saves-10000-with-electric-four-wheel-drives-solar-and-battery/>
"A Sunraysia-owned dried fruit business says it is saving more than $10,000 in
fuel costs a year after trialling six electric off road vehicles, and charging
them with its own rooftop solar and battery arrays.
Duxton Dried Fruits received a Victorian government grant to trial six Ultra
Terrain vehicles made by Queensland manufacturer Tuatara UTC, and to install a
solar charging station at their Wemen vineyard near Robinvale in north-west
Victoria.
The E-Tuatara 1500 UTV is a four-wheel-drive side-by-side off-road vehicle that
Tuatara claims a maximum range of up to 170km. Offering much lower running
costs and regenerative braking, and can be fitted with either one or two
batteries delivering 12kWh or 21kWh and a charging time of between 5 to 6 hours
at 12kWh or between 8 to 9 hours at 21kWh.
The transition to fully electric UTVs means that Duxton can avoid the need for
fuel trucks to come from out of town while simply reducing fuel usage, and all
told is expected to save the company more than $10,000 in fuel costs each year.
The solar charging station features a 60kW rooftop mounted solar array and a
128kWh battery system. The solar system covers both the vineyard’s electricity
consumption and the charging for the electric UTVs.
Henry Young, Duxton sustainability project officer, told
Trade Farm Machinery
that the introduction of the new electric UTVs had been really well received.
“There was a sense of anxiety with battery replacing internal combustion
engines, but they have been absolutely faultless so far,” he said.
“The UTVs are integral to our day-to-day operations. All the machines are used
daily by our staff. The various roles they fulfil include fuel and harvest
support during the summer months, general yard duties, irrigation checks and
currently they have been used widely for weed control.
“My favourite thing is probably the reduction in noise in the operator
environment. They’re also considerably more powerful than the machines we’ve
replaced, and they have got a range of innovative features.
“The solar system and battery have, in general, replaced us having a fuel
bowser and fuel tank. We’ve greatly saved on the complexity and labour savings
of not having to organise fuel and have emergency run-ins to town, which is
about 40km away, for supplies.”
Duxton is also working with the Mallee Regional Innovation Centre to encourage
greater adoption of ZEV technology across the industry."
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*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
