NACFE announces Run on Less – Electric’s participating fleets

This fall, 13 ﬂeets will take part in the North American Council for Freight Efﬁciency’s (NACFE) Run on Less – Electric, a real-world demonstration of zero-emissions goods movement.

“These bold ﬂeets who have committed to Run on Less – Electric represent the diverse range of applications in which electric vehicles make sense, said Mike Roeth, executive director, North American Council for Freight Efﬁciency.

The following ﬂeets are helping NACFE and its partner RMI showcase the beneﬁts and discuss the challenges of electric trucks.

Alpha Baking Co. operating a Workhorse C1000 in Chicago, Illinois
Anheuser-Busch using a BYD tractor in the Los Angeles area
Biagi Brothers operating a Peterbilt 579EV out of Sonoma, California
Cardenas Inc. using an Xos van in Ventura, California
NFI using a Volvo VNR Electric out of Chino, California
Penske operating a Freightliner eCascadia in Los Angeles
PepsiCo’s Frito Lay Division using a Cummins box truck in Modesto, California
Purolator operating a Motiv-powered step van in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Roush Fenway Racing using a ROUSH CleanTech truck out of Concord, North Carolina
Ruan using an Orange EV terminal tractor in Otsego, Minnesota
Ryder System, Inc. using a Lonestar Specialty Vehicles terminal tractor in Georgetown, Kentucky
SAQ: Quebec Liquor board operating a LION8 truck in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
TBD operating a Lightning eMotors truck in the New York City area

There are three vans, three medium duty box trucks, a heavy duty truck and four heavy duty tractors in drayage and regional haul, and two terminal tractors.
Six operate in California, two in Canada, and ﬁve throughout the rest of the United States.
They are delivering home goods, beer, wine and liquor, baked goods, snacks, groceries, auto parts, mail, and packages and general freight.

“In order to ensure the long-term success of electric vehicles, it is crucial to begin learning from early deployments and sharing best practices,” said Rob Reich, NACFE board chair and executive vice president and chief administrative ofﬁcer, Schneider. “Over the next six months, Run on Less – Electric will be the platform to do just that.”

“We are very excited about the mix that these early adopting ﬂeets represent and how that reﬂects the current state of electric truck actions across North America,” said Roeth. “The interest in electric vehicles is spreading across North America as more companies recognize the value of zero-emission solutions.”

The three-week event will start on September 3 at ACT Expo and will feature metrics and daily real-world stories on runonless.com. The Run’s ﬁnale will take place at the North American Commercial Vehicle show in Atlanta September 27-30.

Title sponsors include Dana, Meritor, and Shell, with others sponsoring individual elements of the Run as well. Recognizing that the move to electric vehicles takes more than just changes in engines and equipment, one element of Shell’s support of the program will be to provide Renewable Energy Certiﬁcates (RECs) equal to the total energy usage of all of the participating battery electric vehicles.

“We are still seeking additional support, and anyone interested in supporting us in our efforts should contact me at 260-750-0106,” Roeth said. For a full list of all of the sponsors for RoL-E, click here.

“There is a thirst for knowledge on electric trucks and we are convening stakeholders across the entire electric truck ecosystem to discuss key opportunities and challenges in the deployment of commercial battery electric vehicles,” said Jessie Lund, senior associate, RMI and host of the Bootcamp education series.

Accompanying the event will be 10 training sessions dubbed the Electric Truck Bootcamp, powered by ACT News. The ﬁrst one is scheduled for Tuesday, April 20, followed by a new training every other Tuesday through August 24. Topics the Bootcamp will cover include:

Why Electric Trucks?
Charging 101 — Planning & Buildout
Charging 201 — Power Management & Resilience
Working with Your Utility
Incentives for Electriﬁcation
Maintenance, Training & Safety
Finance & Innovative Business Models
Battery Supply Chains & End of Life
Global Perspectives
Drivers & Electric Trucks

You can register for the Electric Truck Bootcamp here.

This is NACFE’s third event in the Run on Less series. The ﬁrst, Run on Less 2017, focused on long haul routes and the seven drivers averaged 10 MPG. During the second event, Run on Less Regional, 10 drivers average 8.3 MPG hauling in a wide variety of regional haul applications.

Some of these vehicle-manufacturer pairings are part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment – particularly in disadvantaged communities.