In the October 2022 newsletter, NACFE Executive Director Mike Roeth unveiled the focus of the Run on Less event for 2023.

I am very excited to share that we are in the early planning stages for the next Run on Less event. We want this one to focus on likely the biggest challenge to scaling the deployment of electric trucks. Lots of fleets have deployed one or two electric trucks, but few have made the move to having 15 or more trucks. We are thinking this event, which we are calling Run on Less – Electric DEPOT, will feature eight fleet depots with 15+ Class 3 to 8 BEVs operating in the U.S., Canada or Mexico.

One of the key learnings from Run on Less – Electric was that the transition to electric vehicles is about much more than just the trucks themselves. It is about charging, infrastructure, grid capacity, resilience, etc. That’s what led us to the idea of Run on Less – Electric DEPOT, which will give us the opportunity to learn and share best practices for scaling electric trucks at depots.

In order to ensure the long-term success of electric trucks, we need to start learning from fleets who are beginning to scale their use of electric vehicles.

Our goal will be to explain fleet scaling considerations such as charging infrastructure, engagement with utilities, total cost of ownership management, driver and technician training, charge management, etc. We also hope to highlight effective partnerships between fleets, OEMs, and utilities. And we will take a deep dive look into utilities, charging equipment, construction, etc.

As with other Run on Less events, we can’t do this without support from the industry. We need help finding the right fleets to participate in the Run and sponsorships to help finance it.

We also are planning another Bootcamp Training and are seeking your input on topics you would like to see covered as well as potential speakers who have expertise in the topics you are suggesting.

We are counting on you to help us showcase the benefits of scaling electric trucks while also having frank conversations about existing challenges and what is needed to scale EV adoption more quickly. NACFE prides itself on providing real-world data on any of the technologies we study, whether they are current technologies or emerging ones like electric vehicles.

We’ve already started a database of fleets we think might be a good fit for Run on Less – Electric DEPOT, but we know it is not an exhaustive list, so we are hoping to hear from you about your own fleet’s efforts or about another fleet you think is doing a good job scaling EVs.

You can find more details here. I am happy to discuss sponsorship opportunities and also provide fleets with more information on what we are looking for from participating fleets. Since we held our first Run on Less event in 2017, we’ve had strong support from the industry. I expect that will be true as we work on Run on Less – Electric DEPOT. Give me a call at 260-750-0106 so we can discuss how to make Run on Less – Electric DEPOT a reality and help the whole industry scale the adoption of electric vehicles.