PORTLAND, Ore. – Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) has announced Penske Truck Leasing and NFI will receive electric trucks this year as part of its Electric Innovation Fleet.

The fleet will consist of 30 eCascadia and eM2 first-generation electric vehicles, and will hit the road later this year. Series production of the electric trucks is to begin in 2021.

Penske will receive 10 each of the eCascadia and eM2 for use in California and the Pacific Northwest, while NFI will get 10 eCascadias for drayage activities in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Daimler will also operate electric trucks as part of its product validation engineering test fleet in Oregon.

“Freightliner is excited to be working with Penske and NFI on this critical learning process as we further develop and refine our commercial electric vehicle technology. Running multiple trucks in real-world applications will provide better insights for our engineers into the requirements of integrating electric commercial vehicles into fleet operations,” said Roger Nielsen, president and chief executive officer of DTNA. “We are partnering with these two customers for this phase of the co-creation process because they have use cases that closely fit the target applications we have identified. Both Penske and NFI are forward-thinking partners eager to take on the challenge, effort and investment that will be required during this important development phase.”