Schneider National's battery-electric fleet has hauled more than one million zero-emission miles of freight, the No. 7 FleetOwner 500: For-Hire fleet announced.
The carrier's first electric trucks began hauling customers' freight in January. Since then, the fleet has grown to 94 electric vehicles, including 92 battery-electric trucks and two electric yard spotters. The eCascadias have avoided approximately 3.3 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions—the equivalent of removing more than 330 gas-powered passenger vehicles from the road for a year.
"We are driven by our commitment to sustainability and innovation to be one of the first carriers to embrace electric as a powerful solution for hauling freight," said Mark Rourke, Schneider president and CEO. "We believe in a future where clean technology helps transform the way we move goods and reduces our environmental footprint while still delivering on our promises of efficiency and reliability for customers. This milestone is just the first of many."
Schneider has already hauled for major brands, including Goodyear and Frito-Lay North America.
"Frito-Lay's strides in eliminating Scope 3 emissions were exemplified this year through our first-ever third-party electric vehicle shipment with Schneider," said David Allen, PepsiCo Foods North America vice president and chief sustainability officer. "As the first to contract transport on Schneider's eCascadia fleet, our collaboration serves as a blueprint for how Frito-Lay and PepsiCo are working alongside our transportation partners to build a sustainable food system and reach our PepsiCo Positive net-zero emissions goal by 2040."
See also: Schneider adds electric terminal tractors to SoCal fleet
Schneider worked alongside Freightliner's parent company, Daimler Truck North America, as the eCascadia evolved, piloting a truck for six months in 2020-2021 through the Freightliner Customer Experience Fleet.
"Three years ago, we tested the Freightliner eCascadia with Schneider in real-world test applications, and now they have already delivered goods on 1 million fully electric miles with their electric fleet. This is an important milestone, not just for Schneider, but for the industry as a whole," said David Carson, DTNA senior vice president of sales and marketing. "Not only that but clean transportation in the form of zero-emission trucks on the road brings our society closer to a better future."
