December 13, 2017 Vol. 14 No. 25

So I joked with somebody today, saying that I can’t walk down the street any more without six people asking me, “So whaddya think about electric trucks?”

Last week I had lunch with senior players from the Canadian branches of most truck OEMs, and the chatter was dominated by Tesla and electric trucks in general. The week before I met with the sales and marketing VP at Fortigo Freight Services, which has reserved two Tesla Semi trucks (a story is forthcoming). And in the week previous to that one, Wayne Scott of Loblaws showed me and others a BYD all-electric tractor that the company is considering — on top of the 25 Teslas it’s reserved.

My inbox is inundated with electric this and electric that, which included news today that Pepsico has plunked down US$20,000 as a deposit on each of the 100 Tesla Semis it just reserved. That’s part of a reported plan to chop greenhouse gas emissions in its 10,000-truck fleet by 20% or more as of 2030. Frankly, that’s a very modest ambition compared to other major fleets like Walmart and UPS. But I digress.

Somewhere in the midst of my many, many conversations about electrification of the fleet, I also joked that 99.56% of my readers couldn’t care less about this phenomenon. I exaggerated, for sure, but the truth is that full-bore electric plug-in technology isn’t really ready for prime time — for most trucking operations, that is, and certainly not yet for anything approaching the long-haul world. That’s going to take a while, and I don’t believe that Elon Musk will actually be delivering a Tesla Semi to anyone in 2019, as promised. His track record is not good, and even Wall Street is unsure about where he’s leading us. And quite apart from range and charging infrastructure issues, there’s not even a whiff of an indication as to where a Tesla Semi might be serviced. That’s among many, many questions yet to be answered

All that said, if you want a smaller class-6 straight truck or a short-range class-8 tractor, a yard tractor as well, Chinese manufacturer BYD — backed by Warren Buffett, no less — can now, or soon will, deliver you the all-electric goods. Originally a battery maker, BYD also makes buses and cars and already has a manufacturing plant in California. The company will soon build a knock-down assembly plant here in Ontario.

I believe the Mitsubishi eCanter plug-in electric straight truck is also ready to rock, though its availability here in Canada has yet to be defined.

CUMMINS ON ELECTRIFICATION. The Indiana company, with nearly 100 years of diesel engine manufacturing behind it, surprised a lot of people a few months back with the launch of its all-electric concept truck. The AEOS has a Cummins-built electric powertrain, and the company just bought a U.S. battery maker, so it’s quite obviously serious about this electric thing. The acquisition of Brammo, which designs and develops battery packs for mobile and stationary applications, will help accelerate Cummins’ capability in battery systems.