Beyond Fossil Diesel

3 July 2023

Beyond Fossil Diesel is Stage 1 of a proposed 3-stage project that aims to develop decarbonisation solutions for the existing fleet of diesel-powered heavy vehicles and machines, particularly in primary industries.  

This project will address the dual problems of a current market failure in developing these solutions at scale, and the continued production and purchase of diesel-powered vehicles and equipment before decarbonised alternatives become available. Given the often decades-long lifespan of these assets, viable retrofit decarbonisation solutions are essential.  

Stage 1 will develop a bespoke demonstration unit (P2Xpress) to raise awareness and demonstrate renewable liquid fuels and partial electrification. The P2Xpress will attend a series of “Beyond Fossil Diesel” symposiums and field days to spark interest and discussion. 

This stage of the project has five parts:  

  1. Development of the P2Xpress – a hybrid Hino heavy tow vehicle which will be fitted out to complement the existing NSW DPI ‘H2Cuts’ display unit. The tow vehicle will be fuelled initially with lipid-based renewable diesel, and when available, electric-based synthetic diesel fuel.  
  2. A series of symposiums – “Beyond Fossil Diesel” – will be run across NSW with a focus on primary industries. This will raise awareness of the need to decarbonise and build knowledge of feasible fossil alternatives. 
  3. The P2Xpress and the H2Cuts display unit will feature at agricultural field days around NSW to build awareness of and demonstrate low emissions technologies such as hybrid vehicles, hydrogen fuel cells, lithium-ion batteries and solar PV. 
  4. Benchmarking survey of energy and chemical use within NSW primary industries that will allow a longer-term assessment of the impact of capacity building by the energy networks in the Decarbonisation Hub. 
  5. Development and publication of knowledge sharing materials (explainers and videos) based on project events, about feasible diesel alternatives.  

For more information, contact Michael Cashen, project lead, at michael.cashen@dpi.nsw.gov.au