Two Fleets Join Run on Less - Electric Depot Trial

Two more fleets have joined the eight fleets already signed on for the North American Council for Freight Efficiency’s Run on Less - Electric Depot.

Run on Less – Electric Depot is a vehicle and operational trial that will evaluate battery-electric truck performance in real-world fleet operations. The study will also look at the current state of electric charging infrastructure for those fleets.

It also will work to determine best practices for procuring, installing and using new electric truck charging infrastructure in fleet operations.

Purolator, located in Richmond, British Columbia, and US Foods in La Mirada, California, will participate in the Run along with Frito-Lay, OK Produce, Penske, PepsiCo, Performance Team, Schneider, UPS and WattEV.

“We are thrilled to have so many fleets interested in being in Run on Less – Electric Depot and are looking forward to learning more about the operations at Purolator and US Foods,” said Mike Roeth, NACFE’s executive director. “It’s exciting to have a Canadian fleet participating and great to add another California fleet too.”

NACFE also has determined which trucks it will be following at the 10 truck depots participating.

Different Vehicles for Different Applications 

“We are pleased that we will be following a variety of trucks during the Run,” Roeth said. “Some of the trucks are from manufacturers that did not participate in Run on Less – Electric in 2021. Others are from some of the biggest new names in trucking. And we are focusing on trucks of all sizes.”

These trucks include:

• Two Ford eTransit vans at the Frito-Lay facility, which will be tracked operating in urban delivery.
• At Penske, a GM BrightDrop, a Navistar eMV and a Freightliner eCascadia, representing light-, medium- and heavy-duty duty cycles, will be followed.
• Two Tesla Semis at Pepsico will be tracked in heavy-load long-haul transport operations.
• Two electric Volvo VNRs run by Performance Team will be tracked conducting short-haul port routes.
• At Purolator, a Class 6 Motiv step van and a Ford eTransit will be tracked in e-commerce package delivery.
• At OK Produce, a Volvo VNR Electric and an Orange EV terminal tractor will be tracked in local fruit and vegetable deliveries and terminal tractor applications, respectively.
• Schneider’s two Freightliner eCascadias operating in slip-seated drayage will be tracked.
• At UPS, a Freightliner Custom Chassis last-mile step van and a Freightliner eCascadia in a middle-mile duty cycle will be tracked.
• At US Foods, two Freightliner eCascadias will be tracked in food delivery applications.
• At WattEV, two Nikola Tre BEVs operating at the Port of Long Beach will be tracked.

Data Drives the Run

“We will be able to share more about these trucks and the data we will be capturing following our site visits to these 10 depots this summer,” Roeth said.

Throughout August and leading up to the Run starting on Sept. 11, NACFE will post Depot Profiles  on its website that will detail the aspects of the infrastructure, trucks, routes and drivers.

While ROL-Electric Depot will focus on chargers and infrastructure, Roeth said, "The trucks are a key element of the Run, and having data on a variety of equipment will help fleets operating in a variety of duty cycles learn more about how to add electric vehicles to their operations."

The Run is made possible through sponsorships with PepsiCo as an executive sponsor and Cummins and Shell as title sponsors as well as a host of companies that are event and supporter sponsors.

Daily updates RoL--E Depot can be found on the NACFE website.