Titan Freight Systems celebrated the delivery of its first Freightliner eCascadia electric trucks with a special event. - Photo: Daimler Truck North America

Titan Freight Systems celebrated the delivery of its first Freightliner eCascadia electric trucks with a special event.

Photo: Daimler Truck North America

After much anticipation, Titan Freight Systems has taken delivery of its first battery-electric trucks, three Freightliner eCascadias. They’ll be joined by three Freightliner eM2 medium-duty electric box trucks by the end of the year. 

Titan, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, is a regional carrier providing overnight LTL freight service, with seven service centers located throughout Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

The eCascadias will provide deliveries to businesses throughout the Portland metropolitan area. The eM2s will be assigned to densely populated downtown Portland routes. They will make deliveries in a new 16-square-block Zero-Emission Delivery Zone in downtown Portland. The Portland Bureau of Transportation this year was awarded nearly $2 million through the USDOT Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grants program to create the zone.

To power the electric fleet, six Detroit eFill commercial charging stations have been installed at Titan’s depot.

To celebrate, Titan hosted a special event for media, government officials, and its partners in this project, including Daimler Truck North America and the local utility.

Titan’s Sustainability Journey

“These heavy-duty electric trucks are a natural evolution in our journey to be a carbon-neutral transportation company,” said Titan Freight Systems President and CEO Keith Wilson. “We now have a new zero-emission, lower operating-cost tool to help us get closer to realizing our sustainability goals.”

In 2019, Titan switched its Oregon operations from petroleum diesel to 100% renewable diesel as a bridge fuel to electric vehicles. Now, the company said, that bridge has been crossed as Titan becomes Oregon’s first carrier operating 100%-electric heavy-duty vehicles, according to Wilson.

Titan's new eCascadias will make deliveries to businesses throughout the Portland metropolitan area. - Photo: Daimler Truck North America

Titan's new eCascadias will make deliveries to businesses throughout the Portland metropolitan area.

Photo: Daimler Truck North America

That commitment to sustainability was one reason Wilson was named an HDT Truck Fleet Innovator in 2022.

As he told HDT in an interview for that story, “Every time I invest in something that is focused on an environmental benefit ... it almost uniformly turns out to be a competitive advantage.”

At that time, in the spring of 2022, Titan had completed installation of its first six Level 2 charging stations, had broken ground on six direct-current fast-charging units, and expected to receive the first truck by the end of that year. Like many other companies ordering both conventional and electric trucks, Titan’s order was delayed by truck production that couldn’t keep up with demand.

The Road to Battery-Electric Trucks

"We're excited to partner with Titan and introduce the first customer eCascadia to Oregon's roads," said David Carson, senior vice president, sales and marketing at Daimler Trucks North America.

In 2019, Titan began working with DTNA’s dedicated Electric Mobility Group to determine the availability and timing of its heavy-duty electric vehicles and the infrastructure that would be needed to transition its fleet from diesel-powered to electric.

In 2021, Titan was awarded an Oregon Department of Environmental Quality Diesel Emissions Mitigation Grant to replace six diesel trucks with Freightliner electric vehicles.

Additionally, Portland General Electric provided technical analysis and its “Make-Ready” fleet partner build incentives to assist with charging and infrastructure design and costs.

Daimler’s Electric Truck Commitment

DTNA has been a pioneer in commercial electric vehicle development. The company’s portfolio of electric vehicles includes:

  • The Jouley, an all-electric bus from Thomas Built Bus, available since 2020.
  • The FCCC MT50e walk-in van chassis for final mile delivery, available since 2021.
  • The Class 8 Freightliner eCascadia, available since 2022.
  • The Freightliner eM2, set to debut later this year.

In 2021, DTNA opened "Electric Island," the first-of-its-kind heavy-duty electric truck charging site, dedicated to accelerating the development, testing, and deployment of zero-emission commercial vehicles.

DTNA helps customers in preparing for electric fleet adoption. With its Detroit eConsultants, a team of experts specializing in electric trucking solutions, the company can offer guidance to customers, assess duty cycles, and optimize the deployment of electric trucks.

Detroit's Charger Management System (CMS) provides fleet managers with insights into energy consumption patterns, to help create charging schedules that reduce cost per mile and maximize fleet performance. Detroit CMS, paired with DTNA’s comprehensive line of Detroit eFill Chargers, offers an integrated charging solution for Freightliner eCascadia and eM2 vehicles.

Recently, Rakesh Aneja, head of eMobility at DTNA, was appointed to the newly founded Electric Vehicle Working Group by the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Transportation.

The EVWG, established by the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, will make recommendations to the U.S. Secretaries of Energy and Transportation for integrating light-, medium-, and heavy-duty electric vehicles into the U.S. transportation and energy systems.

About the author
Deborah Lockridge

Deborah Lockridge

Editor and Associate Publisher

Reporting on trucking since 1990, Deborah is known for her award-winning magazine editorials and in-depth features on diverse issues, from the driver shortage to maintenance to rapidly changing technology.

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