Solar Sharer: Changing the conversation about electric trucks & the economics

By Anthony Headlam, CEO & Co-Founder @ NewVolt

The Australian Government's proposed Solar Sharer Offer (SSO) announced last week has generated headlines about "free electricity” together with debate across the energy  sector about the practicality of requiring retailers to provide free electricity during a daily peak solar period. 

Every policy has tradeoffs. So debate is expected.  Principally, this policy is about nudging consumers to adjust their energy consumption to take advantage of Australia’s abundance of sunshine. Or, put differently:  

“...[providing] the opportunity for households to reduce their electricity bills and more broadly share the benefits of Australia’s world leading solar uptake…. Bringing on greater load in the middle of the day will smooth the ‘duck curve’ and enhance the stability of the power system, benefiting all consumers and improving system security.” (2025 Reform to the Default Market Offer, DCCEEW)

NewVolt’s mission is to fast-track Australia’s transition to electric trucks. Electric trucks are the best technology pathway to decarbonisation for the road freight sector. But the economic advantage of electric trucks only gets unlocked if paired with low cost electricity.   Free is pretty low cost. 

For this reason, the road freight industry should be paying attention to the discussion about the SSO for the structural signal it represents. In the near future, fuel (read: electrons generated by renewable energy)  will have a marginal cost of approximately zero.  This has massive implications for lots of industries, trucking included. 

This means:

• transport operators will succeed if they can optimise operations to take advantage of times when energy is cheapest (plus maximise the utilisation of fixed cost assets i.e. trucks and charging infrastructure). 
• shippers and consumers will get lower cost freight delivered if they accept or support flexible or optimised delivery times from carriers. 

And Australia’s road freight task can be delivered more efficiently in an energy abundant, lower emission, future. But “delivered with sunshine” thinking must be adopted. 

Free power when the sun shines

Under the proposed SSO, starting July 2026, energy retailers will be required to provide free electricity to eligible retail customers for at least three hours in the middle of the day - initially in New South Wales, South Australia, and south-east Queensland. 

In short, this means free power during the peak solar generation period. The signal is that every consumer should try to align energy consumption to when the sun shines - whether that is running the dishwasher or charging their electric vehicle.

Electric truck economics

Today, electric trucks cost a lot more than diesel trucks and uptake remains low.   

Absent a sales mandate or low emissions zones, electric truck adoption will be driven by total cost of ownership (TCO) economics.  Whilst there are “sweet spot” applications (duty cycles) where the TCO for electric trucks works well on a “one for one” basis, the higher upfront cost and residual value uncertainty of electric compared to diesel encourages operators to stick with the status quo. 

The proposed SSO changes the conversation about TCO because the starting point becomes the cost of energy, when the energy gets consumed, and much less about the upfront costs. 

Rethinking operations across the industry

Free fuel is a compelling offer; but demands behavioural change to enjoy it.

For the transport sector, this is a great conversation.

For shippers: 

• Will you accept different delivery windows if it means lower freight costs and reduced carbon footprints? 
• Can charging be provided to operators during delivery times in the middle of the day?

For operators:

• How can I change my driver shift times to take advantage of the solar peak?
• How much does the TCO improve if I change the shift times or adopt a double shift (higher utilisation) approach? 
• Can I generate electricity on my own premises and/or store it for periods when it isn’t cheap from the grid? 

For customers: 

• Will you shift expectations for when packages arrive if it supports emissions reduction and lower delivery costs? 
• Instead of paying more for same day delivery, would you accept a discount for later delivery ( “with sunshine”)?

But it isn’t that simple right?

Naturally, “free fuel” is a simplification.  It costs money to deploy  solar assets and  to distribute that solar to where it is consumed. And, in the case of electric trucks, there is a cost to deliver that electricity through reliable charging infrastructure.    

It is also true that there is plenty of discussion to play out before the proposed Solar Sharer scheme becomes a reality.  Formal consultation is currently open.  

Regardless, the underlying message of the Government’s policy is clear. Energy can be, and already is,  very very cheap if you are flexible with when you consume it. 

For the road freight sector, this fact requires a change in mindset (a rethink of “what are we solving for”). Implementing the change requires coordination between shippers and carriers and an understanding of energy optimisation as it relates to  transport operations. 

The adoption of electric trucks is well underway but mainstream adoption has not yet occurred. The promise of “free fuel” (like free pizza or free drinks) has an undeniable appeal that is welcomed. It might wake up the industry, at scale, to the opportunity. 

Certainly, NewVolt backs the trucking industry to embrace Australia’s renewable energy abundance and make it a competitive advantage for road freight.

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