Electric Trucks are Almost Ready

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August 21, 2019 Vol. 16 No. 17

The first two Freightliner eCascadia trucks are now with customers — Penske Truck Leasing and NFI – as Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) leads the way with class 8 electrification in the real world. The trucks are part of Freightliner’s Electric Innovation Fleet and both customers will use their vehicles to test the integration of battery electric trucks into large-scale fleet operations. Each of them will have 15 trucks to test in time.

“Co-creation is the cornerstone of DTNA’s strategy to rapidly develop and deploy battery electric trucks. DTNA’s partnerships with customers like Penske and NFI provide valuable feedback for the final design of our trucks, as well as the design of the surrounding e-mobility ecosystem,” said Roger Nielsen, DTNA president and CEO.

“DTNA’s holistic approach is vital to advancing viable transportation solutions from which society as a whole will benefit.”

The Freightliner Innovation Fleet is supported by a partnership between DTNA and California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District  which focuses on improving air quality in the South Coast Basin and partially funded the Innovation Fleet with a grant of about US$16M. Freightliner eCascadias and medium-duty electric Freightliner eM2s from the Innovation Fleet will be operated within the South Coast AQMD jurisdiction.

“We are excited to be a part of this ground-breaking project that will directly impact local southern California communities, especially those disproportionately impacted by air pollution,” said Wayne Nastri, South Coast AQMD’s Executive Officer. “We hope to see larger-scale deployments of similar zero-emission trucks that will have significant environmental and health benefits across the entire state.”

PENSKE AND NFI are the first to deploy battery-electric commercial vehicles from Freightliner in their operations. Penske will run eCascadias in daily delivery operations within California’s ‘Inland Empire’ while NFI will employ its trucks in drayage operations at the ports of both Los Angeles and Long Beach.

“We’re pleased to continue our collaboration with Freightliner and be among the first companies putting the eCascadia to work,” said Brian Hard, president and CEO of Penske Truck Leasing. “Our first eCascadia will be used by our subsidiary Penske Logistics to make multiple, daily store deliveries on a dedicated route. Our in-house maintenance technicians are trained and well prepared, and our recent investments in charging infrastructure in the South Coast Air Basin will play an important role as we operate these cutting-edge vehicles on their delivery routes.”

Penske operates more than 323,000 vehicles and serves customers from more than 1100 locations in North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

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Rolf Lockwood is editor emeritus of Today's Trucking and a regular contributor to Trucknews.com.