NACFE Releases Report: Electric Truck Depots Are Evolving: How 10 Fleets Grew Their BEV Populations

Details of the year-long effort surrounding Run on Less – Electric DEPOT are shared along with initial findings from the demonstration.

Fort Wayne, Indiana — May 7, 2024 — The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) and RMI have released a new report Electric Truck Depots Are Evolving: How 10 Fleets Grew Their BEV Populations. The report documents the year-long effort to bring Run on Less – Electric DEPOT (RoL-E DEPOT) to fruition and provides an analysis of the initial findings and lessons learned from this demonstration.

The report explains what RoL-E DEPOT was and why NACFE thought it was important to launch the effort which followed 22 battery electric trucks at 10 fleet depots in North America. The purpose of RoL-E DEPOT was to focus on the benefits and challenges of scaling from one or two battery electric trucks to 15 or more.

“We’re definitely on the edge of a new time where BEVs are starting to get adopted in the commercial vehicle space,” said Isaiah Larson, program manager, electric walk-in vans, Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. After reviewing 121 fleet depots, NACFE selected 10 fleet depots that had deployed BEVs at scale. NACFE required both the fleets and the OEMs to agree to be participants for each RoL-E DEPOT entry.

“Battery electric vehicles are not just expensive lawn ornaments,” said Katy Link, electromobility sales manager, Volvo Trucks North America (West region). “These trucks are pulling trailers and delivering goods in a sustainable way.”

The report shares the methods used to select the participating fleets, routes, and equipment, as well as what was measured which will allow the trucking industry to learn a great deal from these progressive fleets that are leading the way to even more electrification. The participants selected are a great representation of truck sizes, duty cycles, and use cases among electric vehicles in fleet operations today.

“We’re seeing telematics data is really a key component to fleet electrification strategies,” said Charlotte Argue, senior manager, sustainable mobility, Geotab. Key findings that were determined just after the Run proved to be valid as we continued analyzing the data through April 2024.

One key finding was that the fleets in RoL-R DEPOT were a good representation of the current state of the trucking industry. A total of 850 trucks were operated out of the 10 depots of which 291 were BEVs. The depots had a total of 139 chargers and 1044 MWh of power were used as the trucks traveled 446,831 miles over the three weeks of the Run.

Another key finding was that small depots are ready for electrification now. NACFE defines a small energy depot as ones that require less than 10 MWh of power per day because of the small number of trucks and/or low number of miles those trucks travel in a day. There is less cost in energizing these depots.

Electrification at large energy depots is gaining momentum. NACFE defines a large energy depot as one that requires a high amount of power typically exceeding 35 MWh of power per day because there are a large number of trucks operating out of the depot and the trucks are traveling longer distances. Sometimes the BEVs even are driven during two shifts.

One challenge that was reinforced during the Run is that it’s still taking too long for power delivery and infrastructure to be installed, which is driving portable/temporary charging. It took 9 to 36 months to energize the infrastructure at the 10 depots that participated in RoL-E DEPOT.

NACFE also found that there have been big improvements in trucks and chargers since Run on Less – Electric in 2021. RoL-E DEPOT showed that the industry needs cost and weight reductions to improve the total cost of ownership and that range can be extended with multiple charges per shift at the depot and en route. NACFE also believes that diversity, passion, and capability of the people involved is helping to scale the adoption of electric trucks.

NACFE is currently working on a follow up report that will analyze all the learnings from the Run. This upcoming report will include a deeper dive into the interviews completed and the data collected during the Run, including data from a workshop following the Run as well as other developments in truck electrification.

Read the report here

NACFE Releases Report: Run on Less – Electric DEPOT: Scaling BEVs in the Real World

In addition to validating the initial findings, the NACFE team’s post-Run analyses led to further findings.

Fort Wayne, Indiana — June 27, 2024 — The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) and RMI have released a new report Run on Less – Electric DEPOT: Scaling BEVs in the Real World. The report focuses on analyzing daily performance data from 22 production-level battery electric vehicles (BEVs) operating out of 10 fleet depots that participated in Run on Less – Electric DEPOT. Vehicles represented include Class 2b through Class 8 trucks from 11 manufacturers.

The data from the Geotab telematics devices installed on the trucks was made available to researchers for deeper analyses. NACFE conducted a Run on Less – Electric DEPOT Data Workshop in March 2024, where participants were invited to present their own analyses of the Run data.

“Insights can be pulled back into telematics tools to help the fleet operator understand range prediction and capabilities for their unique situation and the factors that impact them,” says Charlotte Argue, senior manager, sustainable mobility, Geotab.

The data analysis confirmed and validated the findings released shortly after the demonstration in September 2023.

Those findings were:

Small depots are ready for electrification now.
Large depots are possible and gaining momentum.
There have been big technology and production improvements since Run on Less – Electric in 2021.
The trucking industry needs cost and weight reductions to improve TCO.
Range can be extended with multiple charging events during a shift or en route.
BEVs are empowering diversity and inclusion, and energizing initiative and passion.
Powering up infrastructure is taking too long, but portable/temporary charging is helping.

“[The Run showed] that this technology is available. It’s not 10 years in the future. It’s operating now in a city around us and it is possible for other businesses and other fleets to adopt,” says Joy Gardner, executive director, Empire Clean Cities.

In addition to validating the initial findings, the post-Run analyses came to these additional findings:

Electric vans, trucks and heavy-duty tractors are on the road today and are performing well in many duty cycles. Despite challenges, many fleets are deploying BEVs at scale in their operations. This list includes not only the 10 fleets that participated in Run on Less – Electric DEPOT but also companies like Amazon, NFI and IKEA.
Infrastructure, both at the depots and strategically placed along freight corridors, is needed now. One stumbling block to depot electrification is the need for a wider charging network. The place to begin is at or between depots and along freight corridors. Fleets can help with this by working in partnerships where two or more companies combine charging use to maximize charger asset utilization. Fleets need to be aware that planning time for utilities is significantly longer than what fleets are used to. Utilities need to give fleets realistic timelines for project completion. The US National Blueprint For Transportation Decarbonization and the National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy outline a vision for the vehicle technologies and infrastructure required to transform commercial freight transportation from fossil fuels to zero-emission energy sources.
Heavy-duty tractor OEMs should make cost and weight improvements a priority. It is still difficult for many fleets to make the TCO case for BEVs based solely on hard costs, but factoring in things like driver satisfaction and achieving sustainability goals can result in a better TCO case. In addition, more information is needed on the cost of trucks, chargers, energy, infrastructure installation, etc. Vehicle weight has a direct impact on how much payload can be carried. Even with the 2,000-lb. weight exemption for Class 8 vehicles, the weight of the batteries is impacting payload as well as range. But it is important to keep in mind that today, even with diesel-powered trucks, not every load reaches maximum gross vehicle weight. The more exact the understanding of freight weights, the better the electricity needs for BEVs can be estimated. This will help fleets better match BEVs to duty cycles. In the meantime, OEMs need to continue to refine batteries with weight reduction as a key goal.
More realistic data on all key performance metrics is needed. There is a need for better quality performance data on BEV operations — not measured solely on the vehicle, but also measured at the charger, at the depot and from a utility perspective. Information needs to be realistic and not focus on “worst case” scenarios as those do not accurately represent the reality of the current state of BEV development. In addition, it takes a joint effort from a variety of sources to electrify a depot and each of these participants requires their own type of data for different reasons.

“These additional findings are things that everyone involved in the effort to decarbonize freight movement can be working on,” says Rick Mihelic, NACFE’s director of emerging technologies and lead author of the report. “We have built up quite a bit of data which demonstrates that BEVs are working in a wide variety of transportation applications, but we are aware that there are still issues that need to be addressed. Collaboratively and collectively, we can address the changes and improve the TCO case for BEVs for more fleets.”

Read the report here

Depots Prove BEVs Are Capable And Improving

Twenty-two trucks, including three Tesla Semis, demonstrate the viability of battery electric vehicles in a variety of trucking applications.

Fort Wayne, Indiana — November 8, 2023 — Run on Less Electric – DEPOT proved that truck depots can operate battery electric vehicles in large numbers in a variety of use cases.

“Through Run on Less Electric – DEPOT we were able to show that adopters of battery electric vehicles have demonstrated that they work at scale in various segments of the trucking industry including vans and step vans, medium-duty box trucks, terminal tractors and heavy-duty regional haul,” says Mike Roeth, executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE), which launched the three-week Run in conjunction with RMI on September 11, 2023.

The 10 depots operated 291 electric trucks, 22 of which NACFE followed throughout the Run.

The early lessons learned shared on September 18^th in the middle of Run on Less – Electric DEPOT were proven to be valid at the conclusion of the three-week event.

“Our early findings fell into six broad categories,” Roeth says. “The data collected throughout the 18 days of the Run validated those early findings, which we expect will give fleets confidence in moving toward wider use of battery electric vehicles.”

The key findings are:

Small depots are ready for electrification now and electrification at large depots is gaining momentum.
There have been big improvements in trucks and chargers since Run on Less – Electric in 2021.
The industry needs cost and weight reductions to improve the total cost of ownership.
Range can be extended with multiple charges per shift at the depot and enroute.
It’s still taking too long for power delivery and infrastructure to be installed, which is driving portable/temporary charging.
The diversity, passion and capability of the people involved is helping to scale the adoption of electric trucks.

Click here to see additional panes of the infographic.

“We were not surprised that our initial conclusions held true throughout the Run,” Roeth says. “We expect that fleets and their partners will be pleased to see consistency of the results and use this information to re-evaluate and even accelerate their work on electrification.”

The Run provided good news around uptime as all 22 of the studied trucks performed as expected with some exceeding expectations. For example, the Tesla Semis deployed at PepsiCo’s Sacramento Beverages depot completed 410 miles on a single charge and 1,076 miles in a single 24-hour day, enabled by fast 750 kW charging at various points during the day. Also, the depots did not experience any significant loss of power or uptime of the charging systems during the 18 days.

“We also learned that improvements in the trucks, the charging infrastructure and well-thought out implementation plans are critical to delivering the benefits of electric trucks on a wider scale,” Roeth adds.

All trucks were tracked using Geotab technology capturing total miles driven, miles per day, deliveries per day, battery state of charge, use of regenerative braking and other metrics. A data set is available for download (see link below).

In addition, Roeth and Dave Mullaney, principal, carbon-free transportation, RMI, and seven of the Run on Less Electric – DEPOT fleets are meeting with White House officials on November 9^th to have a wide-ranging dialogue about the experience fleets are having purchasing, charging and operating battery electric commercial trucks.

The Run was 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.

You can follow the Run here and on Twitter.

Click here for the data set, infographics and more.

PepsiCo Beverage’s Sacramento-based electric fleet is driving progress toward PepsiCo’s net zero emissions goal in NACFE ‘Run on Less’ trucking event

PepsiCo’s fleet and electric infrastructure, including Tesla Semi trucks, spotlighted to push the industry forward in building electric depots

Purchase, NY, September 27, 2023 — PepsiCo Beverages North America’s (PBNA) Sacramento-based Tesla Semi trucks are taking part in the North American Council for Freight Efficiency’s (NACFE) national “Run on Less: Electric Depot” trucking event this September.

In December 2022, PepsiCo took the first delivery of the all-electric Tesla Semi trucks and as of September 1, nearly 680,000 Zero Emissions (ZE) miles have been traveled.

PBNA’s Sacramento, Calif. bottling production and distribution facility is using a variety of electric vehicles including BYD Electric yard tractors, light-duty Ford E-Transit Service vehicles and 21 Tesla Semis as the company is working toward its ambitious pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) goal of net zero emissions by 2040. The Tesla Semis being deployed out of Sacramento run two different types of routes: long-haul routes that transport between 250 and 520 miles per run and with a gross vehicle weight plus load of up to 82,000 lbs.; And 18 different delivery routes where the trucks cover less than 75 miles per day, hauling a diminishing load that leaves nearly full and lightens throughout the day as deliveries are made.

The three Tesla Semis participating in the Run on Less are driving slip-seated long-haul transport routes. After two weeks (Sept. 11 – Sept. 23), these Semis have accumulated a total of 19,122 miles. Approximately 65 percent of miles driven during the first two weeks of Run on Less were loaded to a gross vehicle weight plus load of over 70,000 pounds. The program has also demonstrated the capability of megawatt charging in transport operations enabling slip-seat, continuous transportation capabilities with an electric vehicle.

Read the entire press release here.

Early Lessons Learned From Run on Less – Electric DEPOT

With one-third of the data collected from the Run, NACFE releases some early lessons learned.

New York, New York — September 18, 2023 — In an effort to understand the current state of electric trucking in North America, isolate areas going well and those where the industry is challenged and bring about better and faster solutions for the industry, the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) and RMI launched Run on Less – Electric DEPOT (RoL-E DEPOT).

Since September 11, data has been collected from 22 trucks operating out of 10 fleet depots. “The data collection is going well. We used this data along with work we completed prior to the Run to identify the current state of electric trucking and areas where we can expedite improvements to the known challenges,” says Mike Roeth, NACFE’s executive director.

Key points fall into six broad categories:

Small depots are ready for electrification now and electrification at large depots is becoming more possible.
There have been big improvements in trucks and chargers since Run on Less – Electric in 2021.
The industry needs cost and weight reductions to improve the total cost of ownership.
Range can be extended with multiple charges per shift at the depot and enroute.
It’s still taking too long for power delivery and infrastructure to be installed, which is driving portable/temporary charging.
The diversity, passion and capability of the people involved is helping to scale the adoption of electric trucks.

“We have been able to use the data captured so far to provide a little more depth to some of these key points,” Roeth says.

Small depots in urban areas require smaller amounts of power, less investment and less time to complete. Here is some of the data:

Daily Purolator and UPS delivery routes are proving to be in the 14 – 42 miles range.
Frito-Lay completely transformed its Queens location in about one year needing only 0.9 MWh/day of electric energy.
Fleets are charging many trucks with a few chargers as evidenced by US Foods operating 15 heavy-duty tractors with only five portable chargers.

“The electrification of large depots is more realistic than we originally thought,” Roeth says, “and electric trucks are becoming an option in longer regional haul return-to-base operations.”

Here is some of the data:

Fleets along with their utilities and engineering, procurement and construction partners are delivering big power — up to 5 MWs — to these depots as well as to charging-as-a-service sites, like WattEV.
There is a significant amount of electricity needed for these large heavy-duty trucks. It is predicted that Scheider’s South El Monte depot would use 40.2 MWh/day if it were 100% electric, the highest projected daily energy demand we noted.
The Tesla Semis at PepsiCo’s Sacramento Beverages depot have completed 384 miles on a single charge and 806 miles in a single 24-hour day, enabled by fast 750 kW charging.
Other Class 8 tractors are demonstrating range at double that of the trucks that took part in Run on Less – Electric in 2021. There is better efficiency, including optimizing regenerative braking and return-to-base charging during single driver shifts. This has occurred consistently at OK Produce, Penske, Performance Team, PepsiCo and Schneider.

“We’ve heard arguments that it is taking too long to deploy the needed infrastructure at depots and at charging-as-a-service locations,” Roeth says. Here are some facts from the 122 interviews NACFE conducted leading up to the Run.

It takes from 12 to 36 months for infrastructure implementation.
Long planning and approval cycles are necessary to enable the grid for these large loads but are simply taking too long.
Other issues include supply chain challenges, planning inefficiencies, delayed permit approvals at the sites and other problems.
Fleets are employing temporary/portable chargers and other creative infrastructure solutions to avoid even longer delays so they can begin to use the trucks that have been delivered.

“Given all these opportunities and challenges the NACFE/RMI team is very impressed with the diversity, capability, passion, and dedication to making this happen,” Roeth says. “During our 122 interviews, 49% of the people we spoke with were women and people of color. These new faces are bringing fresh energy and creative solutions to trucking and are working to overcome obstacles in order to electrify depots.”

He adds, “These improvements in the trucks, charging and implementation plans are critical to delivering the benefits of electric trucking that is evident in what we have learned here with RoL-E DEPOT and with past work by NACFE/RMI and others.”

Stay tuned for more data over the next few weeks and NACFE’s Initial Findings which will be shared in mid-October as the team begins various analyses to produce detailed reports in the first half of 2024.

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.

You can follow the Run here and on Twitter.

Schneider Announces Participation in NACFE Run on Less – Electric DEPOT

GREEN BAY, Wis.(September 11, 2023) – Schneider National, Inc. (NYSE: SNDR), a premier multimodal provider of transportation, intermodal and logistics services, is participating in the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NAFCE) Run on Less – Electric DEPOT effort, which focuses on the biggest challenges to scaling the deployment of electric trucks.

Run on Less – Electric Depot (RoL – E DEPOT) will evaluate battery electric vehicle (BEV) performance in real-world fleet operations, as well as the current state of electric charging infrastructure for those fleets. The goal of RoL – E DEPOT is to gather valuable data to help the industry broadly scale up the use of BEVs.

Schneider is committed to lowering carbon emissions in transportation and operationalizing zero emission technology, such as BEVs, and recently unveiled its large-scale zero emission electric charging depot in Southern California, which will power the nearly 100 BEVs the company plans to add to its fleet by the end of the year.

Read the entire press release here.

Run on Less – Electric DEPOT Showcases Leading Fleets Electrifying Their Operations

Tesla Semi among 21 electric vehicles being tracked as part of NACFE’s research on scaling electric trucks at fleet depots.

Fort Wayne, Indiana — September 7, 2023 — The trucking industry is making strides in decarbonizing its operations. More fleets are making investments in alternative fueled vehicles, especially battery electric trucks. In an effort to help fleets understand the benefits and challenges of battery electric trucks in larger numbers, the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE), is conducting Run on Less – Electric DEPOT September 11-30 where it will not only track the activity of the 21 electric trucks — including two Tesla Semis — but will also look at total depot electric energy and fuel for all the trucks per day and what that will mean in total electrical energy if all trucks at the depot are converted to electric vehicles.

“As trucking works on decarbonizing, fleets are investing in more electric vehicles at their depots which brings with it many benefits but also some challenges, especially around infrastructure and charging,” says Mike Roeth, NACFE’s executive director. “Yet leading fleets are tackling those challenges and are giving us access to their operations so we can share what they are learning with the rest of the industry.”

The Run will feature a variety of trucks covering a full range of duty cycles.

At Frito-Lay’s Queens, New York depot, two Ford E-Transit vans will be tracked operating in urban delivery.
At OK Produce in Fresno, California, a Freightliner eCascadia and an Orange EV will be tracked in local fruit and vegetable deliveries and terminal tractor applications, respectively.
At Penske’s Ontario, California location, a GM BrightDrop, a Navistar eMV and a Freightliner eCascadia, a light-, medium- and heavy-duty truck, will be followed.
At PepsiCo’s Sacramento, California depot, two Tesla Semis will be tracked in heavy-load long-haul transport operations.
At Performance Team’s Commerce, California location, two electric Volvo VNRs will be tracked conducting short-haul routes.
At Purolator’s Richmond, British Columbia hub, a Class 6 Motiv step van and a Ford E-Transit will be tracked in business and residential package delivery.
At Schneider’s South El Monte, California location, two Freightliner eCascadias operating in slip-seated drayage will be tracked.
At UPS in Compton, California, a Freightliner Custom Chassis MT50e last mile step van and a Freightliner eCascadia in a middle mile duty cycle will both be tracked.
At US Foods in La Mirada, California, two Freightliner eCascadias will be tracked in food delivery applications.
At WattEV’s Long Beach, California location, a BYD 8TT tractor and a Nikola Tre BEV tractor operating at the Port of Long Beach will be tracked.

In preparation for the Run, the NACFE team visited all 10 depots and interviewed 122 people about their experience with electric trucks. Fleet profiles with videos are posted on the Run on Less website and will be supplemented by Stories from the Run videos that will look at some of the main issues surrounding the electrification of fleets.

“We will be updating the metrics daily and adding videos on a regular basis, so we encourage people to follow the Run to learn from these 10 pioneering fleets,” Roeth says.

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.

You can follow the Run here and on Twitter.

NACFE Adds Two Fleet Depots to Run on Less – Electric DEPOT, Announces Trucks To Be Followed

Fort Wayne, Indiana — July 11, 2023 — Two more fleets have joined the eight fleets already signed up for the North American Council for Freight Efficiency’s (NACFE) Run on Less – Electric DEPOT (RoL-E DEPOT).

Purolator located in Richmond, British Columbia and US Foods in La Mirada, CA, will now 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,” says 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 in this fall’s Run.

“We are pleased that we will be following a variety of trucks during the Run. 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,” says Roeth.

At the Frito-Lay depot, two Ford eTransit vans will be tracked operating in urban delivery.
At Penske, a GM BrightDrop, a Navistar eMV and a Freightliner eCascadia, a light-, medium- and heavy-duty truck will be followed.
At PepsiCo, two Tesla Semis will be tracked in heavy-load long-haul transport operations.
At Performance Team, two electric Volvo VNRs 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 Freightliner eCascadia and an Orange EV will be tracked in local fruit and vegetable deliveries and terminal tractor applications, respectively.
At Schneider, two Freightliner eCascadias operating in slip-seated drayage will be tracked.
At UPS, a Freightliner Custom Chassis MT50e last mile step van and a Freightliner eCascadia in a middle mile duty cycle will both 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.

“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 says. “Throughout August and leading up to the Run starting on September 11, we will be posting Depot Profiles that will detail the aspects of the infrastructure, trucks, routes and drivers.”

RoL-E DEPOT will look at more than the trucks and also will focus on chargers and infrastructure. “But 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,” Roeth adds.

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. “The Run is an enormous undertaking and we still are seeking sponsors to help us ensure the Run is a success,” Roeth says.

You can follow the Run here, and on Twitter.

ABOUT CALIFORNIA CLIMATE INVESTMENTS: Some of the fleets participating in Run on Less – Electric DEPOT are part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment—particularly in disadvantaged communities.

ABOUT NACFE: The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) works to drive the development and adoption of efficiency enhancing, environmentally beneficial, and cost-effective technologies, services, and operational practices in the movement of goods across North America. NACFE provides independent, unbiased research, including Confidence Reports on available technologies and Guidance Reports on emerging ones, which highlight the benefits and consequences of each, and deliver decision-making tools for fleets, manufacturers, and others. NACFE partners with RMI on a variety of projects including the Run on Less demonstration series, electric trucks, emissions reductions, and low-carbon supply chains. Visit NACFE.org or follow us on Twitter @NACFE_Freight

ABOUT RMI: RMI is an independent nonprofit founded in 1982 that transforms global energy systems through market-driven solutions to align with a 1.5°C future and secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all. We work in the world’s most critical geographies and engage businesses, policymakers, communities, and NGOs to identify and scale energy system interventions that will cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 50 percent by 2030. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Oakland, California; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing. More information on RMI can be found at www.rmi.org or follow them on Twitter @RockyMtnInst.

8 Fleets Selected to Participate in Run on Less – Electric DEPOT

April 26, 2023 — Long Beach, California — This fall, 8 fleet depots will take part in the North American Council for Freight Efficiency’s (NACFE) and RMI’s Run on Less – Electric DEPOT (RoL-E DEPOT), which is focusing on the scaling of electric trucks across a variety of market segments.

“We are excited to have these fleets in RoL-E 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,” says Mike Roeth, NACFE’s executive director.

The following fleets are helping NACFE and its partner RMI showcase what it takes to move from one or two electric vehicles to 15 or more. The transition to electric vehicles is about much more than just the trucks themselves. It is about charging, infrastructure, grid capacity, resilience, etc. RoL-E DEPOT, will allow NACFE to share best practices for scaling electric trucks at depots.

Frito-Lay in Queens, NY
OK Produce in Fresno, CA
Penske in Ontario, CA
Pepsi Beverages in Sacramento, CA
Performance Team Logistics in Commerce, CA
Schneider in South El Monte, CA
UPS in Compton, CA
WattEV in Long Beach, CA

“As you undoubtedly noticed, the majority of fleets in RoL-E 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,” says 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.”

The three-week event will start on September 11, 2023, and will feature metrics and real-world stories on runonless.com.

Added to this year’s Run will be some stories on emerging depots. “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.

Executive sponsor PepsiCo joins title sponsors Cummins and Shell, with others sponsoring individual elements of the Run as well.

“We are still seeking additional sponsors, and anyone interested in supporting us in our efforts should contact me at 260-750-0106,” Roeth says. For a full list of all the sponsors see RoL-E DEPOT, click here.

Accompanying the event will be a 10-session Electric Depot Bootcamp, powered by ACT News. The first session, Best Practices for Utility-Fleet Relationships was held on April 25. The next session, Grant and incentives for the Trucks an Infrastructure is May 16.

Get Registered for Electric Depot Bootcamp

As you all know by now, Run on Less – Electric DEPOT is going to be a reality, kicking off this fall with eight fleet depots with 15 or more electric vehicles participating at each depot. We are in the process of selecting the fleet depots that will be in the Run and will let you know this spring just who those participants are.

And while I can’t yet tell you about the fleet depots, I am excited to announce details for the Electric Depot Bootcamp. Based off the successful bootcamp from Run on Less – Electric, this year’s Bootcamp also will feature 10 sessions with more than 40 experts. The first Bootcamp session will take place on April 25 and will focus on best practices for utility-fleet relationships. The second session is scheduled for May 16 and will focus on grants and incentives for both trucks and infrastructure.

Subsequent sessions will take place every other Tuesday and will cover a wide range of topics including developments with the trucks themselves, faster charging, extending vehicle range, the availability of electricity and resiliency of the grid, zero-emission regulations, managing charging, scaling charging infrastructure, and site planning and construction.

You can find a complete description of the Bootcamp sessions and a registration form here.

We will again have quizzes following each Bootcamp training session so you can test your knowledge of a given topic. There will be a prize for anyone who successfully completes all 10 quizzes!

There is much to learn in order to scale EV deployments and we expect these 10 training sessions will provide useful insights and best practices. We look forward to collaborating with a variety of people across the EV ecosystem.

The Bootcamp sessions are free and are open to fleets, OEMs, component manufacturers, utilities, regulators, NGOs, charging system suppliers and anyone else with an interest in helping trucking move into a clean energy future.

If you are interested in sponsoring the Run, we need the support. Please contact me at mike.roeth@nacfe.org or NACFE’s Director of Industry Engagement, Dave Schaller at david.schaller@nacfe.org.

NACFE Invites You Be Part of Run on Less – Electric DEPOT

Some fleets have been tentative about getting involved with electric vehicles. Others have been pursuing them more enthusiastically. We are working on connecting with some of those fleets as we conduct Run on Less – Electric DEPOT (RoL-E DEPOT) this fall. We are excited to move from mostly looking at the electric trucks — as we did in Run on Less – Electric — to learning what it takes to scale from one or two electric trucks to 15 or more at a single location.

This is an exciting time for trucking and NACFE wants to do its part to help fleets of all sizes understand what it takes to begin scaling the adoption of electric trucks.

While some of our data collected during the Run will focus on the trucks, the majority of our effort will be on infrastructure and charging requirements — areas that present challenges to fleets — so we can offer recommendations on overcoming these challenges.

So, if you have any or all of these questions on electric truck deployment, RoL-E DEPOT will be something you will want to follow.

How much power is really needed to charge these commercial vehicles?
Why does it take so long to get the infrastructure in place?
What are the footprint challenges in deciding to place the infrastructure?
How should I approach managing the charging to save electricity costs?
What are the challenges around different trucks and charging systems?

PepsiCo has already signed on as an Executive Sponsor and Cummins and Shell as Title Sponsors. For a full list of RoL-E DEPOT sponsors, click here. More Funding is needed, so please reach out to Mike Roeth (mike.roeth@nacfe.org) if you’d like to help us.

While we have already identified some depot fleets that we think are candidates to participate in RoL-E DEPOT, we are still looking for others who are interested as we plan to feature fleets across the U.S. and in Canada and Mexico as well. Fleets interested in participating in the Run can fill out an application here. Or you can suggest a fleet you would like to see in the Run.

We also will be bringing back the popular Electric Truck Bootcamp in conjunction with this year’s RoL-E DEPOT, where approximately 45 experts will share their thoughts on many infrastructure and scaling topics.

Whether you sponsor the Run, participate in it or simply follow it, we are grateful for your support of our efforts to move to a zero-emissions future.

Run on Less – Electric DEPOT Is A Go For 2023

Fort Wayne, Indiana — January 11, 2023 — The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) and RMI are pleased to officially announce the launch of Run on Less – Electric DEPOT (RoL-E DEPOT) for this fall.

The Run will focus on what is needed for fleets to move from having one or two electric trucks to having 15 or even a complete changeover to electric at a site. “Going from one or two trucks to 15 or more adds complexity to the needed infrastructure and charging requirements,” says Mike Roeth, NACFE’s executive director. “Some fleets are already doing this successfully and we want to study them to learn how they overcame some of the challenges they faced in scaling electric truck adoption.”

NACFE is in the process of selecting the eight depots for the Run and is accepting applications from fleets wishing to participate through February. Fleets can find an application for the Run here.

“For PepsiCo and Frito-Lay, 2022 was a significant year in the continued transformation of how we deliver our products, with a goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2040,” says Mike O’Connell, vice president, supply chain at PepsiCo and former NACFE board chairman. “As a longtime NACFE partner and Run on Less sponsor, we see immense value in industry collaboration and look forward to sharing firsthand the benefits, challenges and lessons learned along our journey to adopting and scaling these exciting technologies.”

Companies already have lined up to support the Run with PepsiCo committing to be an Executive Sponsor and Cummins and Shell signing on as Title Sponsors. An initial list of sponsors including event and supporter sponsors can be found here. More funding is needed, so if you are interested in being a sponsor of RoL-E DEPOT, please contact Mike Roeth (mike.roeth@nacfe.org).

“The Run on Less roadshow presents valuable learning and collaboration opportunities for fleets, OEMs, suppliers and the industry at large,” says Amanda Phillips, North American regional lead for Cummins-Meritor, which is also one of this year’s Run on Less sponsors. “The opportunity to share insights and help more fleets embrace zero-emission technologies benefits not only our customers and partners, but also our communities and the environment.”

Run on Less – Electric DEPOT will be an 18-month effort throughout this year and into next. The popular Electric Truck Bootcamp from Run on Less – Electric will be returning for RoL-E DEPOT with 10 new sessions featuring approximately 50 experts from a variety of companies who will share their knowledge about scaling the adoption of electric vehicles. Registration for the free Bootcamp will open in mid-March and will be free to all those wishing to participate.

“The Run on Less initiative aligns with our ambition to help decarbonize the commercial road transport sector,” says Tim Murray, general manager of Shell’s Commercial Road Transport business. “The Run demonstrates real-world actions being taken by leading fleet companies who are emerging as industry trailblazers through their collaborative solutions to sustainability challenges.”

In conjunction with the Run, NACFE is developing a new data dashboard and determining which key metrics — for the depots, trucks and charging — will be measured throughout the Run. Join us for collaboration opportunities that will occur throughout the year at all of the major North American conferences. Finally, NACFE also will be releasing several reports in conjunction with the Run in early 2024.

For Media Inquiries Please Contact:
Denise Rondini, 773-951-8563, denise.rondini@nacfe.org

About the North American Council for Freight Efficiency

The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to doubling the freight efficiency of North American goods movement. NACFE operates as a nonprofit in order to provide an independent, unbiased research organization for the transformation of the transportation industry. Data is critical, and NACFE is proving to help the industry with real-world information that fleets can use to take action. In 2014, NACFE collaborated with Carbon War Room, founded by Sir Richard Branson and now a part of RMI, to deliver tools and reports to improve trucking efficiency. Learn more at www.nacfe.org.

About RMI

RMI is an independent nonprofit founded in 1982 that transforms global energy systems through market-driven solutions to align with a 1.5°C future and secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all. We work in the world’s most critical geographies and engage businesses, policymakers, communities, and NGOs to identify and scale energy system interventions that will cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 50 percent by 2030. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Oakland, California; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing. More information on RMI can be found at www.rmi.org or follow us on Twitter @RockyMtnInst.

About Run on Less

Run on Less 2017 was a first-of-its-kind fuel efficiency roadshow that proved 10 MPG is possible with various combinations of commercially available technologies. Seven participating fleets hauled real freight on real routes during the three-week run across North America. Run on Less Regional was conducted in October of 2019. Ten participating fleets demonstrated a variety of commercially available freight efficiency technologies in the three-week cross-country roadshow, proving that 8.3. MPG is possible in regional haul. Run on Less – Electric was the first NACFE demonstration to focus on electric vehicles. Thirteen fleet-OEM pairs in the US and Canada participated in the three-week long event. If all US and Canadian medium- and heavy-duty trucks in the market segments — vans and step vans, medium-duty box trucks, terminal tractors and heavy-duty regional haul — studied in the Run became electric, about 100 million metric tons of CO2 would be saved from entering the atmosphere. Visit www.runonless.com or follow us on Twitter @RunOnLess.

Run on Less – Electric DEPOT Update

Back in our October newsletter, NACFE announced our intention of holding another Run on Less event in 2023. This one would focus on scaling the deployment of electric trucks and we dubbed it Run on Less – Electric DEPOT.

“I have been shocked (in a good way) at the overwhelming response from across the industry,” said Mike Roeth, NACFE executive director. “The team and I have been fielding inquiries from fleets that want to participate in the event, electric vehicle truck manufacturers that want to share details of where they are seeing significant sales and others that are interested in sponsoring the event.”

More information concerning our planning can be found here.

We hope to make an announcement in January with more details of the event. In the meantime, if you are a fleet that has 15+ battery electric vehicles in your operation that is interesting in participating or if you are someone interested in supporting our efforts please contact us at mike.roeth@nacfe.org or david.schaller@nacfe.org. We need support from the entire industry to make Run on Less – Electric DEPOT a reality and an event that we can all learn from.

2023 Run on Less Focus Unveiled

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.

Medium-Duty Box Trucks Are Electrifiable, NACFE Says

Fort Wayne, Indiana — June 28, 2022 — The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) today released the fourth and final market segment report — Electric Trucks Have Arrived: The Use Case For Medium-Duty Box Trucks — based on findings from last year’s Run on Less – Electric (RoL-E) freight efficiency demonstration.

The top level finding from the report is that 100% of that market segment will embrace electrification although some applications within the duty cycle will be easier to electrify than others that have more complex operations. Read the report. When the simpler box truck portion of this market segment, about 380,000 trucks in the US and Canada, electrifies, it will result in the avoidance of 7,681,707 metric tonnes (MT) of CO₂e annually.

“Electrification should happen fast for the simple trucks, and the industry should prioritize the other applications with regard to benefits and difficulty to bring to production given the smaller unit volumes.”
Mike Roeth, NACFE executive director

Three fleet-OEM pairs in RoL-E operated medium-duty box trucks: Day & Ross with a Class 6 Lion6, Frito-Lay with a Class 6 Peterbilt-Cummins 220EV, and Roush Fenway Racing with a Class 6 ROUSH CleanTech Ford F-650.

The report found that medium-duty box trucks are a great application for electric trucks given their short distances and return-to-base operations. The vast majority of medium-duty box trucks are not driven long distances and are home very night. They are an ideal portion of the overall medium-duty truck market for electrification. However, more complex Class 6 and 7 trucks such as snowplows, refuse trucks, and fire trucks will require significant efforts which will delay the timing of electrification.

The report includes some basic information about medium-duty box trucks and the size and scope of the market. It looks at duty cycle and charging considerations and presents the benefits and challenges of battery electric vehicles. It includes information on the manufacturers and fleets that had medium-duty box trucks in the Run and provides details on what metrics were measured. There also is a discussion of total cost of operation.

“As we wrap up our report series from Run on Less – Electric, our detailed analysis of all four market segments are very much in line with our earlier thinking before and just after the Run,” Roeth says. “The marketplace in these shorter haul, return-to-base operations are ready today to electrify and the industry should work together as one to amplify and realize the benefits while mitigating challenges and risks urgently.”

Key findings and lessons learned are also included in the report.

Media Inquiries Please Contact

NACFE: Denise Rondini, T: +1 773-951-8563, E: denise.rondini@nacfe.org

Some of these vehicle-manufacturer pairings are part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment—particularly in disadvantaged communities.

About the North American Council for Freight Efficiency

About RMI

Electric Trucks Reach a Tipping Point

New analysis from RMI shows that 65% of medium-duty and 49% of heavy-duty trucks are electrifiable today.

Boulder, CO and Toronto, ON — May 9, 2022 — Trucks of all sizes are ripe for electrification, according to a new report that utilizes observed aggregated and anonymized trucking telematics data from Geotab. In Charting the Course for Early Truck Electrification, climate and energy nonprofit RMI shows that based on duty cycles, 65% of medium-duty and 49% of heavy-duty trucks are electrifiable today, meaning that the current engines could be replaced by EV technology available by the end of 2022.

Freight trucks in the United States produce an outsized amount of pollution. Although they make up only 10% of the vehicles on the road, they produce 25% of all greenhouse gas emissions from transportation.

“The transportation sector is ripe for change and primed to go. The technology is ready, consumers and fleets are willing, and all the efforts RMI has been championing are not only possible, but are also achievable on a large scale.”
Dave Mullaney, report co-author and principal in RMI’s Carbon-Free Mobility Program

“At Geotab we help empower fleet operators to reduce vehicle emissions and operating costs. For many fleets, electrification offers the greatest opportunity to reduce roadside emissions.”
Charlotte Argue, senior manager, Sustainable Mobility at Geotab

Geotab joined the project in an effort to show how many freight trucks could be electrified right now based on their usage patterns. “Many trucks drive much shorter distances than people might expect, which makes them good candidates for early electrification,” Argue added.

Dozens of battery-electric truck models are available in the United States and Canada alone, and that number is increasing rapidly to meet rising demand. Across the United States, fleets have already committed to deploying over 140,000 electric vehicles. For example, Amazon ordered 100,000 electric vans from Rivian to be delivered gradually over the next eight years. DHL, Frito-Lay, and NFI all have plans to deploy more than 50 electric trucks in the next two years. Depending on when electric trucks are charged, they have the potential to reduce per mile emissions by 60% to 97% compared with diesel.

Transportation electrification is critical to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions. Although not all types of trucks can be replaced with electric versions today, many freight trucks travel short enough daily distances that they can be electrified right now. The capabilities of electric trucks are rapidly expanding and more types of trucks will be electrifiable in the near future.

Media Inquiries
Daina Rudusa, Manager – Media Relations, RMI T: +1 917 622 1865 E: media@rmi.org
Taylor Barker, Sr. Specialist, Corporate Communication, Geotab T: 1 905 208 5794 E: pr@geotab.com

About RMI
RMI is an independent nonprofit founded in 1982 that transforms global energy systems through market-driven solutions to align with a 1.5°C future and secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all. We work in the world’s most critical geographies and engage businesses, policymakers, communities, and NGOs to identify and scale energy system interventions that will cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 50 percent by 2030. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Oakland, California; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing. More information on RMI can be found at www.rmi.org or follow us on Twitter @RockyMtnInst.

About Geotab
Geotab is advancing security, connecting commercial vehicles to the cloud and providing data-driven analytics to help customers better manage their fleets. Geotab’s open platform and Marketplace, offering hundreds of third-party solution options, allows both small and large businesses to automate operations by integrating vehicle data with their other data assets. As an IoT hub, the in-vehicle device provides additional functionality through IOX Add-Ons. Processing billions of data points a day, Geotab leverages data analytics and machine learning to help customers improve productivity, optimize fleets through the reduction of fuel consumption, enhance driver safety, and achieve strong compliance to regulatory changes. Geotab’s products are represented and sold worldwide through Authorized Geotab Resellers. To learn more, please visit www.geotab.com and follow us @GEOTAB and on LinkedIn.

About NACFE
The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to doubling the freight efficiency of North American goods movement. NACFE operates as a nonprofit in order to provide an independent, unbiased research organization for the transformation of the transportation industry. Data is critical, and NACFE is proving to help the industry with real-world information that fleets can use to take action. In 2014, NACFE collaborated with Carbon War Room, founded by Sir Richard Branson and now a part of RMI, to deliver tools and reports to improve trucking efficiency. Learn more at www.nacfe.org or follow us on Twitter @NACFE_Freight and on LinkedIn.

Half of Heavy-Duty Regional Haul Tractors Are Electrifiable Now, Study Says

Fort Wayne, Indiana — May 5, 2022 — The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) today released the third of four market segment reports — Electric Trucks Have Arrived: The Use Case For Heavy-Duty Regional Haul Tractors — based on findings from last year’s Run on Less – Electric (RoL-E) freight efficiency demonstration.

The top level finding from the report is this 50% of that Class 8 market segment is ready for electrification now. Read the report.

“Heavy-duty Class 8 tractors are the most challenging of all the truck segments considered for electrification. Battery electric vehicles cannot replace all diesels, but they can replace a significant share of regional haul ones, where the driver and truck return to base each day, where loads are usually cubed out, or in the case of beverage deliveries, the daily distances are not very long.”
Rick Mihelic, lead author and director of emerging technologies at NACFE

Four fleet-OEM pairs in RoL-E operated heavy-duty regional haul tractors: Anheuser-Busch with a BYD 8TT tractor, Biagi Bros. with a Peterbilt Model 579EV, NFI with a Volvo VNR Electric and Penske with a Freightliner eCascadia.

As Run on Less – Electric concluded in September 2021, NACFE predicted that 70% of this market segment was electrifiable. Given the more detailed analysis, interviews with industry experts and further research for this report, we now consider this market segment to be 50% electrifiable with lower average daily miles, which results in the avoidance of nearly 29.4 million metric tonnes of CO₂e annually (e equals carbon dioxide equivalent). NACFE estimates the entire CO₂e to be eliminated by this segment at an average of 250 miles per day to be 97.8 million metric tonnes.

“Peterbilt’s strategy is to identify those niches where the technology is most ready and the financial benefits for our customers are there and build our way up from that point.
Matt Wetta, national accounts manager, EV, Peterbilt.

The report includes some basic information about heavy-duty regional haul tractors and the size and scope of the market. It looks at duty cycle and charging considerations and presents the benefits and challenges of battery electric vehicles. It includes information on the manufacturers and fleets that had terminal tractors in the Run and provides details on what metrics were measured. There also is a discussion of total cost of operation and return on investment.

Key findings and lessons learned are also included in the report.

Media Inquiries Please Contact

NACFE: Denise Rondini, T: +1 773-951-8563, E: denise.rondini@nacfe.org

About the North American Council for Freight Efficiency

About RMI

More than Half of North American Vehicles are Electrifiable Today

Electrifying vans and step vans in Canada and the US would save nearly 5 billion gallons of gasoline each year and avoid 43.5 million tons of CO₂ emissions a year.

Fort Wayne, Indiana — April 12, 2022 — The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) and RMI‘s latest research shows that vans and step vans in the US and Canada are 100% electrifiable today. The report Electric Trucks Have Arrived: The Use Case for Vans and Step Vans released today calculates that electrifying vans and step vans would avoid about 43.5 million tons of CO₂e emissions annually, equivalent to removing nearly 5 billion gallons of gasoline from our economy per year. Vans and step vans, most easily recognizable as package delivery vehicles, constitute about half of all registered commercial vehicles in North America. Read the Report.

In a volatile energy market, these findings are even more compelling. Shifting to electric package delivery vehicles is not only feasible and beneficial for climate action but will also make a significant impact on decreasing our dependence on foreign oil. Electricity, especially in the context of other fuel types, is less volatile and less expensive than gasoline.

“As recently as five years ago, I would have questioned the feasibility of electrifying North American van and step van fleets. The transition to cost parity happened quicker than most of us expected, and I’m as surprised as many to announce today that the electric market has arrived.”
– Mike Roeth, NACFE Executive Director

“We should jump on this opportunity to electrify delivery vehicles, which will save money and significantly reduce emissions while advancing decisive climate action. Transportation is the largest emitting sector in the United States and as we saw verified in the recent IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report, decarbonizing it is a very cost-effective path toward mitigating climate impacts. This sector is a key early opportunity.”
– Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of RMI

E-commerce is creating significant growth in the trucking sector this decade. The case for electrification includes cost analysis of the vehicles themselves, energy usage, maintenance and sustainability metrics. Moreover, NACFE’s market research and analysis found that switching to electric commercial vehicles would have benefits for the health, safety and productivity of their drivers.

“For a long time, our couriers would actively go grab a gas vehicle if they could because they knew exactly what they were going to get. That is not the case anymore. A lot of them gravitate toward the new trucks that we have knowing that it is the best truck that we have, and it is going to drive the way they want it to, and they can have the nicest ride while they are out there working.”
– Gordon Culver, Senior Operations Manager at DHL

While the electric transition for these vehicles will not be easy or happen overnight, vans provide the most compelling argument for immediate electrification. Companies that hesitate to electrify their van and step van fleets, or those who further invest in fossil fuel, risk stranded assets.

Media Inquiries Please Contact

NACFE: Denise Rondini, T: +1 773-951-8563, E: denise.rondini@nacfe.org

RMI: Emily Long, T: +1 720-675-1699, E: elong.contractor@rmi.org

About Run on Less – Electric by NACFE
Electric Trucks Have Arrived: The Use Case for Vans and Step Vans uses findings gathered from the real-world truck demonstration, Run on Less – Electric (RoL-E), conducted in September of 2021. Two fleet-OEM pairs in RoL-E operated step vans: Purolator with a Motiv EPIC, and Servall Electric with a Workhorse C1000. One pair operated a van: DHL with a Lightning eMotors Ford F350 Transit Van. The Motiv and Lightning eMotors vans that participated in RoL-E are in production and can be ordered from the manufacturers. Workhorse will be releasing new van models in 2023 and 2024.

Run on Less – Electric was the first NACFE demonstration to focus on electric vehicles. Thirteen fleet-OEM pairs in the US and Canada participated in the three-week-long event. If all US and Canadian medium- and heavy-duty trucks in the market segments — vans and step vans, medium-duty box trucks, terminal tractors and heavy-duty regional haul — studied in the Run became electric, we would avoid about 100 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions. Visit runonless.com or follow us on Twitter @RunOnLess.

About the North American Council for Freight Efficiency

About RMI

Report Finds Terminal Tractors Are Good Use Case For Electrification

Orlando, Florida — March 6, 2022 — The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) today released the first of four market segment reports — Electric Trucks Have Arrived: The Use Case For Terminal Tractors — based on findings from last year’s Run on Less – Electric (RoL-E) freight efficiency demonstration. Read the Report.

“We acknowledge that electrification can be difficult, especially in the Class 8 market. But right now, the electrification of terminal tractors makes sense and is a good place for fleets to begin their electrification journey.”
– Mike Roeth, NACFE Executive Director

Three fleet-OEM pairs in RoL-E operated terminal tractors: NFI with a Kalmar Ottawa T2E, Ruan with an Orange EV T Series and Ryder with a Lonestar SV S22. Each of the terminal tractors that participated in RoL-E are in production and can be ordered from the various manufacturers.

“Terminal tractors provide a good use case for electrification because they operate in low mileage applications and can opportunity charge throughout the day while drivers are on breaks.”
– Kevin Otto, Report Lead Author and NACFE Electrification Technical Lead

The report includes some basic information about terminal tractors and the size and scope of the market. It looks at duty cycle and charging considerations and presents the benefits and challenges of battery electric vehicles. It includes information on the manufacturers and fleets that had terminal tractors in the Run and provides details on what metrics were measured. There also is a discussion of total cost of operation and return on investment.

Key findings and lessons learned also are included in the report.

Media Inquiries Please Contact

NACFE: Denise Rondini, T: +1 773-951-8563, E: denise.rondini@nacfe.org

RMI: Emily Long, T: +1 720-675-1699, E: elong.contractor@rmi.org

About the North American Council for Freight Efficiency

About RMI

NACFE Releases Report: Electric Trucks Have Arrived: Documenting a Real-World Electric Trucking Demonstration

Fort Wayne, Indiana — January 11, 2022 — The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) today released data proving that four market segments in trucking are ready to go electric. If they do, US and Canadian fleets could eliminate about 100 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions. Read the Report.

“We expect that this work encourages fleets to explore the deployment of commercial battery electric vehicles (CBEVs) in their operations where they make sense. This will help manufacturers to improve their products for quicker return on investment, and help others to better support the efforts of the trucking industry to progress the use of CBEVs.”
– Mike Roeth, NACFE Executive Director

An in-depth report, Electric Trucks Have Arrived: Documenting a Real-World Electric Trucking Demonstration, documents NACFE’s Run on Less – Electric (RoL-E) demonstration, which was conducted in September of 2021. It shares the methods used to select the participating fleets, routes and equipment, as well as what was measured and details of the Run’s findings and lessons learned.

The report documents the four market segments in which fleets are having success with CBEVs: vans and step vans, medium-duty box trucks, terminal tractors and heavy-duty regional haul tractors. Throughout the Run, NACFE tracked vehicle operations continuously via a digital tracking device, and updated metrics in real-time via a public website with the ability to view results by day or over a span of days.

“It’s not the technology of the future. It is technology for now. Manufacturers are going into production starting now and over the next several years.”
– Tim Farney, Vice President, Global Sales, Dana Inc., Commercial Vehicle Group

The report includes information on state of charge, daily range, speed profiles, regenerative braking recovery, number of deliveries, charging rate, energy consumption, trucking activity, energy-in per day, energy-out per day and weather conditions. It also documents driver reaction, regional factors that impact CBEVs, maintenance and the role of utilities in the successful deployment of CBEVs.

NACFE enumerated 24 lessons learned in six categories — charging, measuring performance, standards, operations, utilities and some miscellaneous lessons. See a full list of lessons learned here.

Media Inquiries Please Contact

NACFE: Denise Rondini, T: +1 773-951-8563, E: denise.rondini@nacfe.org

RMI: Emily Long, T: +1 720-675-1699, E: elong.contractor@rmi.org

About the North American Council for Freight Efficiency

About RMI

Run on Less – Electric Driver Meets With Vice President and Energy Secretary

Vice President Harris and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced federal funding for zero-emission trucks. Read about the announcement as well as NACFE’s top blogs of 2021.

Run on Less – Electric Reports to Debut in 2022

In today’s monthly newsletter, NACFE Executive Director Mike Roeth outlined plans for releasing reports based on the data collected from Run on Less – Electric:

The dust is settling from Run on Less – Electric and we have been out and about, literally around the world, sharing the early insights from the 10 training bootcamps to the 91 site interviews and the plethora of data from the Run itself. Wow, so much. Now we are currently looking for the best way to present the industry with all that we learned throughout the three weeks of the Run. Normally, following our Run on Less events, we publish one big report that captures everything we learned over the course of the Run.

For Run on Less – Electric we are taking a different approach and will be publishing a series of likely smaller reports on various aspect of the Run. Rick Mihelic, director of emerging technologies, is hard at work on a general report that will focus on how we selected the participating fleets, what we measured, charging cycles, drivers, regional factors, maintenance, duty cycles, downtime, TCO ramifications and more. We plan to publish that early in 2022.

In addition to that we also will be publishing market segment reports that align with the four market segments featured in the Run. The first will focus on terminal tractors and will likely be out in the spring. Yunsu Park, director of engineering, is beginning his deep dive into the data and we plan to release a data report in May at ACT Expo.

Real-World Study Shows That Certain Trucking Segments Are Ready to Go Electric and Save 100 Million Metric Tons of CO2

A real-world study of 13 electric trucks delivering freight across North America has found that if all U.S. and Canadian medium- and heavy-duty trucks became electric, about 100 million metric tons of CO₂ would be saved from going into the atmosphere.

Known as Run on Less – Electric and run by the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) and RMI, the study concluded this week after monitoring the electric trucks for the past three weeks. The trucks followed their regular routes delivering beer, wine, packages, electrical equipment, and more.

“It’s clear from the data collected during the Run that it is time for fleets to go electric in certain market segments, including the van/step van, medium-duty box truck, terminal tractor and short heavy tractor regional delivery segments.”
Mike Roeth, NACFE’s executive director

All 13 trucks participating in the Run completed their daily routes hauling real freight in their respective locations and helped to validate some of the earlier findings from NACFE’s Electric Truck Bootcamp that took place just prior to the Run.

NACFE estimates that the four segments featured in the Run encompass 5.2 million vehicles but that these market segments are a gateway to the larger opportunity in longer regional-haul and long-haul trucking. Therefore, the industry will be able to leverage the learnings from the four early-adopter market segments for even greater reductions in CO₂.

Click here to view an infographic.

During the next six to 12 months, NACFE, RMI and various other partners will analyze both the quantitative and qualitative data collected during the past three months — including data from the Bootcamp trainings, fleet interviews and the Run itself. This will result in several reports and tools to help lead the industry forward. But NACFE believes the entire trucking industry has a responsibility to act now and begin the transition to electric trucks.

“Taking action now to decarbonize trucking is critical because although medium- and heavy-duty trucks make up 4% of all North American vehicles, they account for a quarter of carbon emissions. The move to zero-emission vehicles will create clear health benefits for all of us.”
Jason Mathers, director, Vehicle & Freight Strategy for the Environmental Defense Fund

“As a fleet that has begun the transformation to zero-emission vehicles, we already have learned from and are acting upon the findings from the Bootcamp, the visits with the participating fleets and from the Run itself. I encourage all organizations in the electric truck ecosystem to do the same.”
Rob Reich, executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Schneider

“The trucking industry is sometimes characterized as a single medium- and heavy-duty market. Run on Less – Electric has clearly reminded us that the industry is multifaceted and there are key market segments ready today to take advantage of battery electric vehicles.”
Michael Berube, deputy assistant secretary for Sustainable Transportation at the U.S. Department of Energy

NACFE thanks the fleets and drivers who participated in the Run, as well as the manufacturers and other businesses, utilities and governmental and nongovernmental agencies that supported the Run. Without the combined efforts of a variety of people in the electric truck ecosystem, the Run would not have been such a success. NACFE would also like to thank title sponsors Dana, Meritor and Shell for their support of the Run, as well as all the event and supporting sponsors for making Run on Less – Electric possible. A complete list of sponsors can be found here.

Valuable information including recordings of the Bootcamp trainings, participant profiles, daily stories from the road and 234 truck-days of metrics can be found at runonless.com. Information on the Run also is available at @RunonLess on Twitter.

Media Inquiries Please Contact

NACFE: Denise Rondini, T: +1 773-951-8563, E: denise.rondini@nacfe.org

RMI: Alex Chin, T: +1 973-262-0002, E: achin@rmi.org

About the North American Council for Freight Efficiency

About RMI

Run on Less – Electric Finale Event

Run On Less – Electric is close to the finish line. Join us at the Finale Event on Wednesday, September 22 at 11 a.m. EST when NACFE’s Executive Director Mike Roeth and an expert panel will share the real-world results of this three-week electric truck technology study, including the amount of carbon saved if all North American trucks made the move to electric.

NACFE’s Roeth is Passionate About Decarbonization

When NACFE’s Executive Director Mike Roeth sold his house so he could live in his solar-powered camper, the decision stood as a clear symbol of Roeth’s commitment to decarbonizing trucking — a sector responsible for 24% of transportation’s greenhouse gas footprint.

Learn more about Mike’s work at NACFE, including his journey spearheading Run On Less – Electric, on RMI’s blog.

Roeth and his wife Letty enjoy their solar-powered RV year-round.

NACFE Hosts Appreciation Reception

NACFE held an Appreciation Reception Tuesday night at the The Cove at Long Beach Convention Center to thank the Run On Less – Electric fleet and OEM teams as well as the sponsors who helped make the event happen.

To the Fleets, OEMs, and Sponsors, a heartfelt thanks from the entire NACFE team. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Truckers Lead the Charge to Go Electric

More than a dozen different electric trucks from companies such as Frito-Lay, Anheuser Busch, Penske and DHL will be measured over the next three weeks along their usual delivery routes to tally the amount of carbon they emit. This is a part of Run on Less, a program aimed at measuring efficiency in trucking that is a collaboration between the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) and RMI.

For the first time, all trucks participating in the event are powered by electric motors—revealing the momentum within the trucking industry for adopting greener delivery vehicles. This is critical now more than ever, as North American delivery is growing amid an e-commerce boom driven by the pandemic. Trucking emissions account for 24% of emissions in the United States, and on average, trucks emit more carbon than gasoline-powered passenger cars.

Data will be collected daily along the three-week run and streamed live online. Final results will be unveiled the week of September 20.

“The transition to electric trucks is happening in the trucking industry all over North America. Our preliminary findings based on early adopters show that switching from a gasoline or diesel-powered vehicle to an electric one is affordable. And there is now inertia in the trucking industry that will speed up adoption in coming years.”
– Mike Roeth, NACFE Executive Director

Interviews with truckers, fleet operators and delivery companies prior to the Run’s launch also found the following:

Early adopters of electric vehicles (EVs) are validating an acceptable total cost of ownership in urban medium-duty vans and trucks, terminal tractors and short regional haul applications.
EV adoption is occurring throughout North America, but for longer haul heavy-duty semi-trucks use has been somewhat limited to California.
There are benefits to EVs (quiet operation and reliability) as well as challenges (infrastructure and range).
EV truck ecosystem inertia is in its early stages with many solutions emerging that will support adoption in the next several years.
The industry needs to develop standards in the areas of charging, repair, maintenance and training.
There is a huge demand for real-world information on EVs in commercial applications and on charging infrastructure.
The mix of startups and traditional truck OEMs and component manufacturers is expediting the development of creative and practical solutions.
More thought is needed on the best way to gather and manage the necessary data for fleets and manufacturers to measure and monitor their EVs
Early adopters of EVs are having an influence on improving trucks and infrastructure
EVs present operational challenges, for example longer charging times than fueling, which these fleets are working to mitigate.

“At Penske, we support customers with a wide variety of different truck solutions—including electric vehicles. Run on Less – Electric is going to highlight some of the early adopters of electric trucks, like Penske, while exhibiting the key benefits and challenges in each segment. We are excited to be part of this and encourage all parties helping to improve EV operations to follow the Run.”
— Paul Rosa, Senior Vice President Procurement and Fleet Planning, Penske

In addition to the preliminary findings, NACFE also is revealing the names of the 13 drivers participating in the Run. “We met all 13 drivers and learned about their experiences with EVs,” Roeth said. “Overwhelmingly they are excited about these trucks and very willing to share their experience behind the wheel.”

Rene Solis—driving a BYD tractor for Anheuser-Busch
Joseph Villaneuva—driving a Cummins box truck for Frito-Lay
Donald Disesa—driving a Freightliner eCascadia for Penske
Jazmin Vasquez—driving a Kalmar Ottawa electric terminal tractor for NFI
Antonio Grimila—driving a Lightning eMotors van for DHL
Francis Lajoie—driving a Lion6 electric truck for Day & Ross
Ray Hancock—driving a Lonestar Specialty Vehicles terminal tractor for Ryder
Alexander Schaumann—driving a Motiv-Powered step van for Purolator
Conrad Hanson—driving an Orange EV terminal tractor for Ruan
Pat Brandon—driving a Peterbilt 579EV for Biagi Bros.
Michael Johnson—driving a Roush CleanTech truck for Roush Fenway
Jeffrey Howard—driving a Volvo electric VNR for NFI
Stephen Garrett—driving a Workhorse C1000 for Servall Electric

A few key metrics from the efforts so far include the following:

The Electric Truck Bootcamp featured 48 experts and had about 1,500 participants who took part in person or by viewing each of the 10 trainings.
NACFE visited all 13 deployments interviewing 91 first-hand people taking advantage of these trucks in everyday operation.
Of the 35 videos telling the various stories around electric adoption, 15 are already available on www.runonless.com.
Metrics will begin streaming from each truck starting Thursday, September 2. The Run begins September 2 and lasts for three weeks.

You can follow the Run, track fleet metrics and see video stories from the road at runonless.com. You also can follow the Run at @RunonLess on Twitter.

Media Inquiries Please Contact:
NACFE: Denise Rondini, T: +1 773-951-8563, E: denise.rondini@nacfe.org
RMI: Alex Chin, T: +1 973-262-0002, E: achin@rmi.org

Some of these vehicle-manufacturer pairings are part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment—particularly in disadvantaged communities.

NACFE Conducts Workshop at ACT Expo

NACFE hosted an interactive workshop yesterday during ACT Expo in Long Beach, CA to identify key challenges and opportunities related to electric truck deployments.

Approximately 240 people joined as we shared our latest insights, including key takeaways from the 10-part Electric Truck Bootcamp and lessons learned from Run on Less – Electric participant site visits this summer. We also gave a sneak peek at what to expect from RoL-E when it gets underway two days from now.

Whether you attended the workshop or not, we want to hear from YOU – what needs to happen to accelerate electric truck adoption?

With your feedback and the discussion during the workshop, we’ll collectively and anonymously prioritize these ideas to identify the top options worth advancing. Your input will not only help guide NACFE’s work and ensure that it benefits your organization, but who knows – it could change the world!

Participant Profiles Now Available

The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) is excited to share more details about the 13 Run on Less – Electric (ROL-E) fleets – their trucks, their drivers, their routes and their charging routines. The Story So Far.

View photos and all the details about ROL-E Participants here.

NACFE will host a press conference tomorrow at 1:50 p.m. PT during ACT Expo to announce preliminary findings from the Electric Truck Bootcamp and Participant site visits conducted during the last few months.

Metrics will begin streaming from ROL-E trucks starting September 2 when the Run kicks off, and Stories from the Road videos will premiere on September 3 with additional new videos posting throughout the Run.

Plan to Attend the Last 3 Bootcamp Trainings

We’re down to our last three Electric Truck Bootcamp training sessions. So far, we’ve gotten great feedback on the first seven trainings that have covered the factors that are driving electric truck development, charging EVs, working with utilities, incentives, maintenance/training/safety and financing.

If you have not checked out these trainings, we encourage you to do so here, where you will find recordings of all the sessions. More than 1,600 people either attended or watched the first training session and the number of people checking out subsequent sessions is growing. Check them out today!

You still can register to join us live for the last three sessions including:

Training #8 — Sustainable Supply Chain & End of Life, July 27 at 1 p.m. EDT
Training #9 — Global Perspectives, August 10 at 1 p.m. EDT
Training #10 — Drivers and Electric Trucks, August 24 at 1 p.m. EDT

And remember to take the quizzes following each training to demonstrate your comprehension of the material and earn your electric truck bootcamp badge. We will send you a free Run on Less – Electric hat for passing all 10 quizzes!

Virgin Unite Supports NACFE’s Run on Less – Electric

NACFE and Run on Less – Electric recently wrote for the Virgin Unite blog and appreciate its support for the role of electric trucking to reduce transportation greenhouse gas emissions.

When NACFE, an organization that both Virgin Unite and RMI have supported for many years, decided to focus the 2021 Run on Less trucking demonstration on electric trucking, I knew that the momentum for passenger electric vehicles would shift toward freight delivery trucks. Yet those expectations, which were already high, are being exceeded. Read the full blog here.

13 Bold Fleets to Participate in NACFE’s Run on Less – Electric

A diverse mix of early-adopting fleets will be joining NACFE on the Run.

This fall 13 fleets will take part in the North American Council for Freight Efficiency’s (NACFE) Run on Less – Electric, a real-world demonstration of zero-emissions goods movement.

“These 13 fleets who have committed to Run on Less – Electric represent the diverse range of applications in which electric vehicles make sense.”
— Mike Roeth, executive director, North American Council for Freight Efficiency

The following fleets are helping NACFE and its partner RMI showcase the benefits and discuss the challenges of electric trucks.

Anheuser-Busch using a BYD tractor in the Los Angeles area
PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Division using a Cummins box truck in Modesto, California
Penske operating a Freightliner eCascadia in Los Angeles, California
NFI using an Ottawa Kalmar Electric Terminal Tractor in Chino, California
DHL operating a Lightning eMotors van in the New York City area
Day & Ross operating a LION6 truck in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Ryder Systems, Inc. using a Lonestar Specialty Vehicles terminal tractor in Georgetown, KY
Purolator operating a Motiv-powered step van in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Ruan using an Orange EV terminal tractor in Otsego, Minnesota
Biagi Brothers operating a Peterbilt 579EV out of Sonoma, California
Roush Fenway Racing using a ROUSH CleanTech truck out of Concord, North Carolina
NFI using a Volvo VNR Electric out of Chino, California
Servall Electric operating a Workhorse C1000 in Cincinnati, Ohio

“In order to ensure the long-term success of electric vehicles, it is crucial to begin learning from early deployments and sharing best practices. Over the next six months Run on Less – Electric will be the platform to do just that.”
– Rob Reich, NACFE board chair and Schneider’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer

“We are very excited about the mix that these early-adopting fleets represent and how that reflects the current state of electric truck actions across North America,” says Mike Roth, NACFE’s executive director. “The interest in electric vehicles is spreading across North America as more companies recognize the value of zero-emission solutions.”

There are three vans, three medium-duty box trucks, a heavy-duty truck and four heavy-duty tractors in drayage and regional haul and two terminal tractors.
Six operate in California, two in Canada and five more in rest of the United States.
They are delivering home goods, beer, wine and liquor, baked goods, snacks, groceries, auto parts, mail, and packages and general freight.

The three-week event will start on September 3 at ACT Expo in Long Beach and will feature metrics and daily real-world stories on runonless.com. The Run’s finale will take place at the North American Commercial Vehicle show in Atlanta September 27 to 30.

Title sponsors include Dana, Meritor and Shell, with others sponsoring individual elements of the Run as well. In addition to our title sponsors there are others sponsoring out efforts. Recognizing that the move to electric vehicles takes more than just changes in engines and equipment, one element of Shell’s support of the program will be to provide Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) equal to the total energy usage of all of the participating battery electric vehicles.

“We are still seeking additional support, and anyone interested in supporting us in our efforts should contact me at 260-750-0106,” Roeth says. For a full list of all the sponsors for RoL-E, click here.

“There is a thirst for knowledge on electric trucks and we are convening stakeholders across the entire electric truck ecosystem to discuss key opportunities and challenges in the deployment of commercial battery electric vehicles.”
– Jessie Lund, senior associate, RMI and host of the Bootcamp educational series

Accompanying the event will be 10 training sessions dubbed the Electric Truck Bootcamp, powered by ACT News. The first one is scheduled for Tuesday, April 20 followed by a new training every other Tuesday through August 24. Topics the Bootcamp will cover include:

Why Electric Trucks?
Charging 101 —Planning & Buildout
Charging 201 —Power Management & Resilience
Working with Your Utility
Incentives for Electrification
Maintenance, Training & Safety
Finance & Innovative Business Models
Battery Supply Chains & End of Life
Global Perspectives
Drivers & Electric Trucks

You can register for the Electric Truck Bootcamp here.

This is NACFE’s third event in the Run on Less series. The first, Run on Less 2017 focused on long-haul routes and the seven drivers averaged 10 MPG. During the second event, Run on Less Regional, 10 drivers average 8.3 MPG hauling in a wide variety of regional haul applications.

About California Climate Investments: Some of these vehicle-manufacturer pairings are part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment — particularly in disadvantaged communities.

About NACFE: The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) works to drive the development and adoption of efficiency enhancing, environmentally beneficial, and cost-effective technologies, services, and operational practices in the movement of goods across North America. NACFE provides independent, unbiased research, including Confidence Reports on available technologies and Guidance Reports on emerging ones, which highlight the benefits and consequences of each, and deliver decision-making tools for fleets, manufacturers, and others. NACFE partners with RMI on a variety of projects including the Run on Less demonstration series, electric trucks, emissions reductions, and low-carbon supply chains. Learn more at www.nacfe.org and follow NACFE on Twitter @NACFE_Freight

About RMI: RMI is an independent nonprofit founded in 1982 that transforms global energy systems through market-driven solutions to align with a 1.5°C future and secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all. We work in the world’s most critical geographies and engage businesses, policymakers, communities, and NGOs to identify and scale energy system interventions that will cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 50 percent by 2030. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Oakland, California; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing. www.rmi.org

NACFE Run on Less Shows How Far Electric Trucking Has Come in 2021

The trucking industry is beginning its move to an electric future. In order to leverage data from real-world experiences, the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) will be conducting Run on Less – Electric (RoL-E), an electric truck technology demonstration in 2021. Leading up to and throughout the Run, NACFE will showcase electric trucks in everyday operation and the actions needed to accelerate their adoption. The actual Run will begin in September of 2021.

“Run on Less – Electric will allow the whole industry to see electric trucks delivering real freight on real routes to showcase that zero-emissions goods movement is possible,” says Ryan Laskey, senior vice president of Dana’s Commercial Vehicle (CV) Drive and Motion Business.

RoL-E will feature up to 10 dedicated trucks, drivers and charging infrastructure systems across the United States and Canada, supported by their fleets and truck OEM partners. Vehicles from vans to medium-duty box trucks to heavy-duty tractors will be moving freight in different duty cycles and geographic and climate areas.

“We are pleased to recognize the bold companies — Dana, Meritor and Shell — that already have signed on to support our effort by becoming title sponsors,” says Mike Roeth, NACFE’s executive director.

Different from previous Run on Less events, the technology on the trucks in RoL-E will be at an earlier stage of development and deployment. The goal is to showcase equipment that is representative of the truck builders’ plans. Given the limited number of electric trucks in service, many of them in pre-production mode, RoL-E fleet participants will be teams made up of the fleet and their OEM partners.

Today, we are also announcing a call for participants for Run on Less – Electric. Fleets and truck OEMs can complete an application using the form available at www.runonless.com/electric. Contact Dave Schaller at david.schaller@nacfe.org or Mike Roeth at mike.roeth@nacfe.org with questions.

NACFE will be working collaboratively with diverse organizations across the large ecosystem of zero-emissions vehicles to bring a full understanding of how these trucks are being deployed.

“Shell is excited to participate in Run on Less – Electric to increase awareness of electric trucks and gather critical data to scale their adoption. We’re proud to be among the companies advancing electric truck infrastructure technology and to work with NACFE and RMI on this important effort,” says Andreas Lips, CEO Greenlots, a member of the Shell group.

“Commercial vehicles using electrified drivetrains are one of the emerging technologies that will help the trucking industry evolve into the future. Run on Less – Electric will help us gather real-world data that can then be used to help the industry make the transition to zero emissions,” says John Nelligan, President North America Truck, Meritor

To complement the demonstration and data collection components of RoL-E, NACFE and RMI will be hosting a series of virtual educational events (E-series) designed to convene industry stakeholders to discuss the why and how of electric truck deployments. The E-series is an opportunity to learn from leaders in fleet electrification beyond the formal Run participants and will include discussions with fleet managers, charging providers, utilities, engineering firms, policymakers, and more. Those interested in learning more about electric trucks and working together to overcome challenges to deploying these zero-emission vehicles are encouraged to review the E-series schedule — set to be released in April — and register their participation.

“Rather than a typical webinar where experts teach what they already know, these sessions are intended to bring together stakeholders from across the industry to support innovation, collaboration, and the acceleration of zero-emissions goods movement,” says NACFE Board Chairman and Schneiders’ EVP and Chief Administrative Officer Rob Reich.

NACFE hopes the Run will allow it to learn more about the implementation of electric trucks at fleets including things like needed infrastructure, total cost of ownership, training needs and more.

NACFE believes the RoL-E program represents a huge opportunity in delivering goods cleanly and efficiently, as well as promoting a green trucking future. Ensuring the long-term success of these zero-emission vehicles requires learning from their deployment and tests in real-world conditions, which itself takes significant time and investment.

“While the RoL-E program has sparked interest and initial underwriting support, we need more support to build on this momentum and to ensure its expansion and success for the long-haul,” Roeth says. Specifically, sponsors for the event are still needed to help underwrite the costs associated with the Run. Opportunities are available at different levels. Event sponsors already committed include: APTIV, Electrify America, Electriphi, Geotab, Lightning eMotors, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, PepsiCo, Peterbilt, Volvo Trucks North America, and Workhorse. To discuss sponsorship opportunities, please contact Mike Roeth at mike.roeth@nacfe.org or 260-750-0106.

“It’s time for all of us to more fully understand the benefits and challenges of hauling real freight with electric trucks. RoL-E will allow us to do just that. We expect the event will help create business and customer demand for more sustainable goods movement ,” Roeth says.

NACFE Releases Run On Less Regional Report

Fort Wayne, IN — June 16, 2020 — The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) released its in-depth report on Run on Less Regional, a fuel-economy demonstration that showed how Class 8 tractors — both diesel and CNG — and trailers can use a variety of technologies to achieve the best fuel economy possible in a variety of regional haul applications. Also included are reports on how these duty cycles would work in battery electric truck and hydrogen fuel cell trucks.

“These are truly exciting times and NACFE again helps make it clear how much improvement is possible regarding fuel economy and provides a pragmatic look at the future of moving good. Within this report, readers will learn how to play a bigger role in transforming trucking. We are challenging all manufacturers to join us in accelerating the work on reducing fuel use for current tractors and taking advantage of emerging zero-emission solutions, as we are doing within the Volvo LIGHTS project and our all-electric VNR model.”
– Magnus Koeck, vice president of marketing and brand management, Volvo Trucks North America

After careful analysis of key data from the three-week event, the NACFE team reached the following conclusions:

High efficiency requires a commitment from both fleet leadership and drivers. The 10 fleets in Run on Less Regional averaged 8.3 MPG with the nine diesels at 8.7 MPG.
Big data and connectivity can be used to further optimize tractor operations for each route. Many technologies exist to improve the efficiency for these regional routes. Understanding each in-depth will help in making choices to save fuel, money, and emissions.
Fleet managers must understand and act on the variety in duty cycles so they can specify vehicles properly and coach drivers in efficient driving techniques. NACFE suggests seven duty cycles for regional haul: shuttle, dedicated, dedicated fast turn, hub and spoke, city, diminishing load and milk runs.
The expansion of regional haul will help attract and retain drivers as drivers get home on a more regular basis. More regional haul opens many more potential people to truck driving jobs.
Because of its return-to-base operation, regional haul is ideal for alternative-fuel vehicles, especially battery electric trucks. Infrastructure to charge electric or alternative fuel trucks is a critical barrier to deployment. Having confidence in the location of the infrastructure to support these vehicles is important to deciding to move forward with electric trucks.

“These results help illustrate what is possible today and in the future to dramatically improve efficiency. This report allows us to learn from valuable data collected from the Run and apply it toward a future of zero-emission freight movement.”
— Oliver Bishop, General Manager, Shell Hydrogen

The 10 trucks from participating fleets — C&S Wholesale Grocers, Hirschbach, Hogan Transportation, J.B. Hunt, Meijer, PepsiCo, Ploger Transportation, Schneider, Southeastern Freight Lines, and UPS. — drove 58,000 miles, recorded 237 deliveries while achieving a cumulative 8.3 MPG. This is a 38% improvement over the average Class 8 regional haul operations, which NACFE estimates to be 6.0 MPG.

If all regional haul fleets were to operate at this fuel-efficiency, the industry would save more than $9 billion in fuel over the course of a year and 30.6 tons of CO₂.

“After participating in both Run on Less events, NACFE challenges us to improve and focus on our fuel efficiency. Hirschbach is top down focused on making our footprint greener and minimizing our carbon emissions. In this tumultuous business environment with uncertainty lurking around every corner, this program has energized our efforts to stay the course. We encourage fleets to review the information and data shared here; as we know you’ll benefit from it.”
— Nick Forte, Vice President of Maintenance/Equipment, Hirschbach

Complete Run on Less Regional results can be found here. A copy of the complete report can be found here.

Run on Less Report Launched

Atlanta — May 4, 2018 — The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) today released an in-depth report on Run on Less—a first-of-its-kind fuel-efficiency roadshow, demonstrating high miles per gallon using currently available technology.

The reports provides analysis of key data from the three-week event, from which four key conclusions are drawn:

10 mpg does happen in the real world
Conditions matter and need to be understood for decision making
High mpg requires efforts in many areas
Telematics reports and data-logging are worthwhile investments

“Run on Less demonstrated that 10.1 mpg is possible in real-world applications”, said Mike Roeth, Executive Director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency. “The results are now detailed, and I challenge fleets to take advantage of available fuel-saving technologies, manufacturers to continue to ramp up their efforts in developing fuel-efficient products and other industry stakeholders to support them in the work of raising the average fuel economy of all fleets.”

NACFE board chairman Rob Reich, senior vice president of equipment, maintenance and driver development at Schneider, said, “I hope all fleets, manufacturers and others will use the data derived from Run on Less as part of their strategies to lower fuel costs and emissions. Thanks to everyone involved with the run, which has helped provide this excellent source of information for all our efforts to make trucking more efficient.”

The research team also distilled the actions used by the seven participating fleets to achieve high levels of performance, including high-impact technologies, driver behavior, vehicle configuration and more.

Throughout the run, the seven trucks from participating fleets—Albert Transport, PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Division, Hirschbach, Mesilla Valley Transportation, Nussbaum Transportation, Ploger Transportation and US Xpress—saved 2,877 gallons of fuel and $7,193 against the national average of 6.4 mpg.

Complete Run on Less results can be found here. A copy of the complete report can be found here.