Driving Down Emissions with Electric PTO
In the transportation sector, one of the most overlooked but significant issues is idle time. For milk tankers, the process of pumping product in and out often involves leaving engines running—wasting fuel and contributing to harmful emissions. Newspec has taken a bold step to address this challenge by developing and implementing electric pumps.
From Fuel Crisis to Groundbreaking Technology
In 2017-2018, industries relying on heavy transport were hit hard by skyrocketing fuel costs. For Jeff Naish, a technician with expertise in vehicle technology, it was clear that there had to be a better way. The question was simple: Could milk tankers operate more efficiently without burning diesel? As battery and EV technologies rapidly advanced, Jeff saw an opportunity to rethink the traditional fuel-driven system and began exploring the potential for an electric power take-off (ePTO) system.
The Problem:
Milk tankers spend significant amounts of time idling while pumping milk, which directly contributes to high fuel consumption and unnecessary emissions. In 2023, a fleet of 16 milk tankers collectively spent 60,253 hours running, with 14,307 of those hours spent idling—25% of their total run time. This was a major opportunity to reduce operational costs and environmental impact.
Introducing Electric Pumps:
With the introduction of electric pumps, Newspec has successfully reduced idle time, resulting in significant fuel and cost savings. According to data from EROAD, an electronic fleet management tool, electric pumps have shown the potential to drastically reduce idle time, improving both fuel efficiency and sustainability.
The Results:
In a trial with one truck, Newspec's electric pumps reduced idle time by 73%, cutting down 650 hours of idling per year. This resulted in saving 3,900 litres of diesel, a reduction in fuel costs of NZ$6,800 annually, and a decrease of 11 tons of CO2 emissions.
Scaling the Impact:
The benefits are clear. If this technology were rolled out across New Zealand’s fleet of approximately 750 milk tankers, the savings would be substantial:
Eliminate 490,000 hours of idle time annually.
Save over 2.9 million litres of diesel.
Cut fuel costs by NZ$5 million.
Reduce emissions by over 8,000 tons of CO2-equivalent per year.
In terms of emissions, installing electric pumps in just 20 trucks would be equivalent to removing one truck from the road entirely.
Future Steps:
The results are impressive, but there are even more opportunities for reducing idle time. By introducing automatic engine shut-offs after five minutes of idling and providing incentives for drivers to reduce idle time, further savings and environmental benefits could be achieved.
