ContainerLink’s Auckland operation is two months along the road to building experience with the first of its Kiwi-built Kahu EV electric trucks.

The Kahu EK16, built in Ashurst by Kahu EV went on the road in mid-April and has been carting empty containers port-to-depot and depot-to-depot around Auckland, based from the company’s Oak Rd premises in Wiri.

ContainerLink has three more Kahu trucks on order with the next in line scheduled to start work towards the end of August.

Brent Batters, General Manager Transport for ContainerLink, says the Kahu trucks have been in the planning stage since 2021 and are joining a smaller Isuzu-based SEA Electric unit the company already operates.

ContainerLink is a division of Container Co NZ Ltd. Brent says company owner Ken Harris and daughter Margaret Harris are keen to be early adopters of electric truck technology.

The Kahu EK16 at work for ContainerLink is a 4x2 with a 7410kg tare weight and 12-tonne GVM towing a Fruehauf skelly dual-axle semi. It can move three 20-foot containers or alternatively one 20-foot and one 40-foot container. Kahu is also developing a 6x2 version of the EK16. 

The first truck is typically working between the Port of Auckland, Panmure and Wiri.

“Almost all of our work is moving empty containers locally around Auckland and an EV is ideal for that application,” says Brent. 

The company has also installed a fast charger at Oak Rd which is recharging the truck from 20-80% in about 38 minutes. 

“Wayne, who is driving the truck, typically gets two or three loads done and then takes his 30-minute break while the truck is recharging,” says Brent.

“Then he’ll probably get a couple more loads done. That’s as good as it gets in Auckland.

“One day we ran without topping up and from 100% charge at the start to 20% we travelled 170km.

“Wayne has been an important part of the project. He’s really enthusiastic and knowledgeable about new technology and he was the obvious choice.

“He’s been sending his feedback to Kahu EV and we’ll probably involve him in the roll-out for the new units in Tauranga and Napier.”

Brent says the decision on where the fourth unit will be deployed will be made after ContainerLink reviews workloads in Auckland and Tauranga.

Mark Crouch, Kahu EVs General Manager Commercial, says the ContainerLink EK16s are built specifically to suit the inner-city container role.

“The important thing is the truck is not a conversion of a diesel truck. We sourced a new cab/chassis from Dong Feng in China and added all of our operating systems and battery management,” Mark says.

“From the bare cab/chassis we added the major drive line components, motor and batteries, as well as doing new suspension, adding the fifth wheel, and so on. Our proprietary electric vehicle management and control system keeps everything working. 

“The second truck is almost finished and ContainerLink will have all four by the end of the year.”

Manawatu-based Kahu EV was formerly known as Zero Emissions Vehicles and has developed a number of specialised EVs including a battery electric rubbish compactor truck and a Toyota LandCruiser 4x4 with battery electric powertrain that has BHP certification for underground mine sites.

Kahu’s major project at present is development of an electric farm feeder wagon in a partnership with German manufacturer Strautmann.