CleanTechnica recently scored an exclusive interview with Ben Hutt, the CEO of Janus Electric. This comes in the context of mainstream media interest in the electrification of the heavy truck industry, trials by Windrose technology and Centurion, and provocative comments from Andrew Forrest of Fortescue Metals, etc. Over the phone Ben told me lots of interesting information about this innovative company and generously answered my questions. Photo courtesy of Janus Electric. It will be of interest to our USA-based readers that by buying Janus Electric trucks, or converting existing trucks using Janus drivetrains, customers are eligible for the Californian Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP). According to a recent Australian Securities Exchange announcement, “Janus Electric has received confirmation that two vouchers have been granted in California for its first two U.S. vehicle conversions, delivered through its authorised dealer, Electric Vehicle Choice (EVC).” Check out the videos at the end of the article. The voucher incentive project means that a company can get a drayage truck converted for almost nothing. Janus Electric is the only offering of its kind, and at the world’s largest port region, California’s Ports of Long Beach and LA, all drayage trucks have to be zero-emissions by 2035. Janus Electric has already activated a dealer and exported engine conversion kits, and the first US truck conversions are in progress. Photo courtesy Janus Electric In a further North American connection, Janus Electric imports its batteries from Canada. Batteries supplied by Electrovaya are lighter and give Janus Electric another edge in the market. Janus Electric will soon offer a new engine which, with new batteries from Electrovaya, will mean lighter prime movers than ever before — suitable for pulling one trailer on roads. Having steer axle weights under 6.5 tons puts them under all Australian weight limits, meaning they can access places that the heavier Chinese trucks can’t. “You won’t need to build new bridges,” I quipped. Batteries supplied by a company based in North America makes it easier for Janus Electric to service that market directly. Ben told me that he only took over the leadership of the company in January of this year and has put forward a clear strategy and is building an exceptional management team. He has a strong partnership with the founder, Lex Forsyth. I asked Ben to share some of his personal backstory. “I am committed to the energy transition through and through, and came to Janus Electric after six years building a battery orchestration software platform which had 35 utilities in 9 countries as customers, before being sold to Intellihub (largest smart metering business in Australasia, owned by Brookefield and Pacific Equity Partners) — Evergen.” Courtesy Janus Electric. He grew up in the UK, surrounded by diesel trucks at his parents’ trucking haulage business. Ben shared the memory of driving a class 8 diesel rig around the adjacent airfield to his parents’ business at the age of 12. By joining Janus Electric, he feels like he has “come home” to accelerate the energy transition. On a side note, Ben drives a Tesla Model 3 Performance. Of course he does. I asked, with some cheek, “Are you the NIO of the trucking industry?” Both have market-leading battery swapping technologies. But he was keen to point out that while NIO sells new vehicles, Janus Electric refits existing trucks and converts them to electric, thus getting more life from the embedded carbon in the production of the truck. What about competition from cheaper Chinese trucks? “There is room for everyone — we’re happy to see transport electrify as fast as possible. Janus Electric will focus on where we can make a difference. For example, there are 4 million trucks already on the road in the USA — they will need new engines every 5-10 years, and putting in an electric one instead of diesel just makes sense, for everyone. “It’s great to see new electric trucks being bought. But we offer something unique — electrifying trucks that already exist today, having them back on the road by next week. This is the affordable, accessible, zero-waste route to electrifying fleets.” As a truck person himself, Ben can appreciate that truckies love their trucks and want to keep them as long as possible. With Janus Electric, you can keep your truck and still drive sustainably. “All trucks have a personality — remember Mad Max? The truckies get to keep their trucks and still participate in electrification.” Photo courtesy Janus Electric. Ben is aware of the groundbreaking transition pioneered by Andrew Forrest of Fortescue Metals. He tells me that Janus Electric is working with businesses like Fortescue in Western Australia to develop mine-specific solutions, like the trial run with Qube. “Moving a massive road train in the outback is different to operating in an urban environment,” he adds. For more urban driving, Janus Electric is developing a smaller, lighter motor for trucks which tow up to 70 tons. Ben answered the most important question — what have been the obstacles to progress? This is what I wrote in 2022. At first glance, it appears that numbers in the pipeline seem to be the same. Janus Electric expected 50 trucks to be converted by the end of 2022, and a Sydney-to-Melbourne electric transport corridor to be operational in 2023. What have been the major obstacles? In candid comments, Ben told me: “The company needed operational changes and the necessary funding to position it for further growth — which we now have in place. Janus Electric needed fresh ideas and leadership. You could view its work over recent years as a 20-truck pilot with over 10 customers. Some things went wrong. We needed to learn things: like standardising the software and hardware. Now the same specs are coming out of the factory and we are upgrading the trucks in the wild to Janus 2.0. We’re ready to meet the explosive demand from global markets for a freight electrification solution.” Although ARENA is encouraging the transition to electric trucks and funding some projects, Janus Electric and its customers are still waiting for a clear pathway to support in Australia. With a capital infusion from government funding, Ben estimates that 50 trucks would be put on the conversion line in weeks. But one of the issues in Australia is that funding, where it exists, is in too many small buckets and not easy to access. Operators are waiting for clear funding commitments, impeding national uptake. But at Janus Electric, the implementation of Janis 2.0 means customer confidence is high and Ben expects progress to increase. Janus Electric is currently in discussions with partners across Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia, with additional dealership agreements expected before year-end. Ben cited the example of Archer Heavy Equipment in South Australia converting trucks for Janus Electric. Janus Electric launched its first national dealer-led conversion centre (also the first conversion centre in South Australia) in partnership with Archer Heavy last month, marking the start of a national rollout. Jared Archer, Managing Director of Archer Heavy Equipment, elaborates in an ASX announcement: “We’re seeing strong demand from the Adelaide carrier community to convert diesel trucks to electric. Operators can see the cost savings and the operational benefits, and many are ready to convert immediately. We now have the technical capabilities and support in place to make this happen.” You can see a Janus Electric semi race a diesel truck up the steepest section of the highway, thanks to Archer Heavy Equipment South Australia. The video clearly shows the advantages of the electric truck — more power, more speed, with much less noise, heat, driver fatigue, and of course no emissions. South Australia, with its high level of renewable energy production, is a natural launch market. Transport electricity demand can act as a “flexible load, improving utilisation of renewable generation while supporting grid stability,” per the announcement. “This creates a dual benefit of significantly lowering operating costs for fleet operators (estimated 30–60% reduction in energy costs), and improving utilisation of renewable energy at a system level.” “What’s needed in Australia is the catalyst of government support. Targeted government incentives, aligned across Federal and State levels, would accelerate uptake materially and get more electric trucks on the road faster,” Ben tells me. “Canada and New Zealand have support for conversions to reduce carbon emissions, and in those markets it is translating to growing demand.” “What about the charging?” I asked. This is where it gets a little complicated. Some charging and battery swap stations are owned and operated by customers and some are owned by Janus Electric. “We don’t need to be the people who electrify the Hume highway from Sydney to Melbourne. There are many use cases where our technology makes sense immediately, bypassing the need to wait for national charging infrastructure.” Cement Australia was given as an example. “We’re working on a plan to have 50 Janus Electric charging sites across the National Electricity Market.” The NEM covers the Eastern Australian states. Years ago, Janus Electric talked of a robotic battery swapping station to be built in Brisbane. Ben assures me that this is still in development, depending on where the greatest volume of converted Janus Electric trucks is located. “The common perception is that charging infrastructure is a constraint, but this is overstated. Approximately 70% of Australian heavy vehicles operate less than 300 kilometres per day on repeat routes, making them well suited to depot-based charging and battery swap models,” Ben adds. Sick of reading the words? Here are some great videos of trucks, truckies and those who maintain them: Andy the truckie drives “Sparky” and appreciates the quiet, smooth ride, with lots of grunt and only good vibrations. Mitch is an operations manager. His focus is on efficiency and cost. No fuelling cost for the two Janus trucks, as opposed the 21 diesel vehicles. His company chose to go for the electric conversion rather than rebuild the engine. With Janus’ backup, the downtime is halved, making the trucks more profitable. Aaron is a maintenance planner. He tells us that the Janus trucks are more reliable and require less maintenance. He doesn’t have to worry about air filters or oil filters. He doesn’t have to worry about fuel theft. He’ll always have a soft spot for diesel trucks, but “electric is definitely the way of the future.” Using the maintenance cycle for heavy diesel vehicles as an opportunity to upgrade to swappable batteries means that the fleet could be electrified in a fraction of the time it would take to replace old diesel trucks with new electric ones. And using swappable batteries means that truck batteries could be upgraded as new battery technology becomes available and affordable. There are other short videos here, here, and here, including US ones. Janus Electric is a great company with satisfied customers. The highway is long, but thanks to Janus, it is bright and electric!
