NO HARD CELL

Thick red dust and ochrecoloured hues saturate the vast plains and ancient rocky outcrops of the famed Pilbara region, stretching the width of north Western Australia.

Here, in the heat of the day and the dusks and dawns punctuating the night – long from view of undisturbed city dwellers often ignorant of the region’s beauty and rich mining resources – umpteen commercial vehicles traverse the landscape, ferrying loads of precious metals and minerals from the mining sites and the most precious cargo of all, back and forth to go garner them – people – via passenger coach, who Fly In Fly Out (FIFO) for the work.

It is a tough ol’ land out there and not the place where comfort and safety can be compromised, as a coach’s reliability is ever tested with each wheel turn.

Long the domain of diesel-powered vehicles, those wheels aren’t the only things turning, as moods and methods change to bring zero-emissions vehicles even to those far away regions of Australia.

And, ironically, in such a dry and dusty outcrop devoid often for long periods