Our Mainfreight Truck Rolls Again!

Another cherry season, another year of quiet, clean, and fully electric transport! Once again, we teamed up with Mainfreight to use their 100% electric truck for our cherry harvest, proving that farming and transport don’t have to rely on fossil fuels.

For the fourth year in a row, this truck has been running cherries from our orchard to the Central Pac packhouse—without a drop of diesel. It’s smooth, silent, and runs on 100% renewable energy, just like everything else on our orchard.

A Truck That Doesn’t Roar (Or Cost the Earth)

If you’ve ever stood next to a diesel truck, you’ll know they aren’t exactly subtle. They rattle, roar, and leave a lovely little cloud of fumes behind. Our electric Mainfreight truck? It doesn’t do any of that. In fact, it’s so quiet that if you didn’t see it moving, you’d wonder if it was even on.

Mechanically, it’s much simpler than a diesel truck. Instead of a fuel tank- it’s got a battery, and there’s an inverter, an air system for the brakes, and… that’s about it. Less to break, less to maintain, and way cheaper to run.

How We Make It Work for Harvest

Now, range is always the big question when it comes to electric trucks, but we’ve got a system. The truck has a 180kWh battery and can go about 150km per charge. Transporting cherries from the orchard is around a 15km round trip, so our trick is to charge while we load. Every time the truck is back at the orchard getting packed with fresh cherries, we plug it in. Over an hour and a half, it tops up about 10-15% of its battery, meaning it’s always ready for the next run.

Why This Matters

One of the biggest challenges in sustainable farming is transport. You can grow food as cleanly as possible, but if it’s then loaded onto diesel trucks and sent all over the country, your carbon footprint starts creeping back up. At Forest Lodge, we’re out to prove that you can farm and transport fruit without relying on fossil fuels. Our entire operation is 100% electric, from irrigation to frost fighting to harvest. And because we generate all our own power on-site, this truck is literally running on sunshine.

Plus, the cost savings are real. No road user charges, no diesel bills—just the cost of a registration and a certificate of fitness. And when your orchard makes its own power, that means we’re running this truck for next to nothing.

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A Big Thanks to Mainfreight

Of course, none of this would be possible without Mainfreight, who have been absolute legends in getting electric freight on the road in New Zealand. They’ve owned this truck for years, and every season they make sure it’s here, charged up, and ready to roll for our harvest. So, as we wrap up another season, we’re already looking forward to next year—where we’ll once again be harvesting, packing, and delivering our cherries the clean, green, electric way. 🍒⚡🚛

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