Iveco Trucks Australia has been awarded an AU$500,000 grant as part of a broader Victorian Government initiative designed to encourage more Victorian-based businesses to introduce and support zero-emission vehicles.

One of only four recipients, IVECO will allocate the funds towards three principal channels: comparative research, additional site preparation of its Customisation and Innovation Centre in the lead up to local zero emission vehicle launch, and upskilling of relevant employees to properly facilitate the product roll-out and subsequent support.

IVECO Trucks Australia strategic projects and industry relations manager, Marco Quaranta, said the funding had been warmly received and would assist the company to further plan for the introduction of its zero emission vehicles in Australia and New Zealand, beginning with the latest generation Daily Electric.

“Given the differences in technology between traditional diesel and zero emission commercial vehicles, considerable pre-launch preparation needs to be undertaken,” Quaranta said.

“Our funding submission took a holistic approach by identifying three key areas that we thought were vital to the successful introduction of zero emission models, these centred around tooling, training and total cost of ownership comparisons.”