NACFE to Track 8 Electric Trucking Fleets in Scalability Study

Two years ago, the North American trucking industry was rocked by an infrastructure bomb. At the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo (ACT) in Long Beach, California it became clear that electric trucks had pushed past debating and developing stages to a point of readiness for mass adoption – but with one major roadblock – there were few options when it came to supporting them on roads across America.

With the need to transition North American trucking into a net-zero emissions industry looming, it was obvious that massive investments in public and private charging infrastructure would be necessary if electric trucks were going to become commonplace.

The future of electric trucking is getting a closer look this fall with the North American Council for Freight Efficiency partnering up with Rocky Mountain Institute to host Run on Less – Electric Depot. Analysts are hitting the ground running in an effort to determine what challenges exist and how best to overcome them when it comes to charging infrastructure.

RoL-E Depot will focus on current electric infrastructure efforts from leading North American fleets. Participating fleets are gearing up to showcase electric trucks delivering real freight across actual routes during this three-week-long demo.

NACFE Executive Director Mike Roeth announced the eight fleets the organization will be tracking on April 26.

“The following fleets are helping NACFE and its partner RMI showcase what it takes to move from one or two electric vehicles to 15 or more,” Roeth said. “The transition to electric vehicles is about much more than just the trucks themselves. It is about charging, infrastructure, grid capacity, resilience, etc. RoL-E Depot will allow NACFE to share best practices for scaling electric trucks at depots.”

The eight fleets participating in RoL-E Depot are:

Frito-Lay in Queens, New York
OKProduce in Fresno, California
Penske in Ontario, California
Pepsi Beverages in Sacramento, California
Performance Team Logistics in Commerce, California
Schneider in South El Monte, California
UPS in Compton, California
WattEV in Long Beach, California

“As you undoubtedly noticed, the majority of fleets in RoL-E Depot are located in California,” added Dave Schaller, director of industry engagement for NACFE. “Our goal with this event was to showcase fleets that are now deploying 15 or more trucks, and we had hoped to have a wider geographic representation. The reality is that at this point the majority of fleets with 15 or more electric trucks are in California. But we believe they are a good representation of the benefits and challenges of deploying electric vehicles at scale.”

The fleets participating in the study will showcase a spectrum of real-world battery-electric commercial vehicles, Roeth said. “We have everything from Class 8 tractor-trailers running regional routes down to brown UPS delivery trucks running around urban areas. So, we have a wide range of electric trucks with different charging requirements that will help us understand how those demands affect charging infrastructure for fleets.”

The RoL-E Depot event will begin on September 11 and last for three weeks. It will include metrics and real-world stories at www.runonless.com.

“We’re really looking forward to sharing information on charging infrastructure, engagement with utilities, total cost of ownership management, truck performance, driver and technician training, charge management, and more to help the entire industry move to a cleaner freight future,” Roeth said.

In addition to the RoL-E Depot participants, NACFE announced they will also be featuring stories about emerging depots.

“In our vetting of the fleet depots for this Run, we came across fleets that are on the cusp of scaling up the number of electric vehicles in their operation,” he explained. “While they did not meet the criteria for this year’s Run, we still believe there are valuable lessons they can teach us.”

NACFE’s Run on Less series is now in its fourth installment. Run on Less 2017, was their first, focusing on long-haul routes. Run on Less Regional studies 10 fleets with a wide variety of regional haul applications. Run on Less – Electric dove into real-world electric truck technology of 13 trucks.

According to Roeth, there will be a 10-session Election Depot Bootcamp leading up to the RoL-E Depot. The first session was held on April 25 and covered Best Practices for Utility-Fleet Relationships.