Fonterra's new electric milk tanker, Milk-E. Photo / Supplied

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Fonterra launched its new electric milk tanker in Morrinsville earlier this week and the man who helped bring it to life couldn't be more proud.

Fonterra's national fleet technical manager Richard Suckling said it was great to see the e-tanker on display after all the hard work behind the scenes.

"It was really exciting to be joined at the reveal by Dr Megan Woods as well as local government, iwi and industry experts to celebrate this significant milestone in New Zealand heavy transport," he told The Country Sport Breakfast's Brian Kelly.

The tanker, named Milk-E by one of Fonterra's farmers, was built by the co-op's Morrinsville workshop, he said.

"They've all done a fantastic job to make this happen … it's definitely a team effort to pull together this electric tanker."

The tanker operated on battery-swap technology, which was currently being installed at Fonterra's Waitoa site.

It took around three hours to charge one battery, which could be swapped out in about six minutes.

"So essentially Milk-E will come in with a full load of milk, unload and then swap the battery … boom and then she's out again," Suckling said.

Milk-E had a range of about 140km on a full charge, but this needed to be tested to determine how many farms it could collect from, Suckling said.

There were other aspects that also needed testing.

"We have a lot to learn from this e-tanker. We'll be looking at a number of factors, including how far it can go, how easy it is to charge, [as well as] maintenance, cost, and, of course, driver comfort and safety."

Fonterra's Waitoa site was ideal for the trial, Suckling said.

"The town has lots of close supplying farms on relatively flat land, which … is perfect for battery, electric vehicles."

The Waitoa site also had New Zealand's largest fleet of electric milk trucks more than 100 years ago, so it made sense that the town was now home to the country's first modern electric milk tanker.

Milk-E also gave the team an opportunity to trial new concepts to improve milk collection efficiencies and reduce safety concerns, as well as lessening the amount of work required to customise a Fonterra tanker.

An electric pump on the driver's side reduced the pipework on the truck by 3.4 metres.

This lowered the tare weight, which was important, Suckling said.

"Every kg we reduce from the truck is an extra litre of milk that we can carry - which is absolutely critical when collecting millions of litres each day."

Converting to an electric pump removed the need for a hydraulic tank full of oil, Suckling said.

"That will reduce the tare weight also by about 100 kilos."

A mechanically assisted milk hose, coupled with the pipework changes, meant effective and safe milk collection, and reduced the risk associated with manual handling, Suckling said.

"The milk hose now falls naturally back across the guards of the truck and is secured onto a Bayonet connection which locked the hose in place and seals the end of the hose in transit for quality control."

Finally, newly designed doors now opened sideways with minimal moving parts, resulting in improved safety for the driver, he said.

Milk-E had been in the planning for 18 months but the project had really "ramped up" in the last 12 months, Suckling said.

"We only saw this vehicle for the first time in February this year."

If successful, the Milk-E trial would benefit the heavy transport sector across the country as road transport was one of the fastest growing sources of emissions.

"We're really looking forward to learning about this heavy electric vehicle in a rural setting and then sharing that learning across the New Zealand transport sector."