Fleets from California will comprise most of the roster of companies taking part in the North American Council for Freight Efficiency’s (NACFE) Run on Less – Electric Depot demonstration.

The program looks to examine what it takes to scale up from one or two electric trucks, to 15 or more. It will encompass undertakings related to charging, infrastructure, grid capacity, and resilience, NACFE announced when announcing participants April 26.

“We are excited to have these fleets in RoL- Electric Depot and look 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,” said Mike Roeth, NACFE’s executive director.

Participating fleets will include: Frito-Lay in Queens, N.Y.; and seven California-based operations including OKProduce, Penske, Pepsi Beverages, Performance Team Logistics, Schneider, UPS, and WattEV.

“As you undoubtedly noticed, the majority of fleets in RoL – Electric Depot are located in California. 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,” said Dave Schaller, NACFE’s director of industry engagement. “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.”

Demonstration comes Sept. 11

The three-week demonstration will kick off Sept. 11. Stories and metrics will be posted on www.runonless.com.

Look for stories on fleets that are in the process of ramping up their electric vehicle operations.

“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. While they did not meet the criteria for this year’s run, we still believe there are valuable lessons they can teach us,” Roeth says.

Those interested can also take part in a 10-session Electric Depot Bootcamp, which will cover topics including: electric truck developments; charging challenges; opportunities to extend range; electricity resiliency and availability; current and future regulations; and electric depot site planning and construction.

Anyone can take part in those webinars for free by signing up here.