I am going to start out by saying this is a shameless plug for you to go to Runonless.com. And I thank the nice folks at FleetOwner for indulging me.
But I am not plugging the website just to get our numbers up. The truth is we have begun to post videos from our site visits to the 13 fleets that will be participating in Run on Less—Electric. Yes, the NACFE team visited all 13 sites interviewing over 80 people making these electric truck deployments work in the real-world.
We are adding new videos on a regular basis as they are completed by James Brown, writer, producer, director, and editor at James Brown Media. James is our ace when it comes to all things video. As you can imagine it takes a great deal of time to view the hours of video we capture at each location and distill it into a compelling video that is about five minutes long.
The 13 participants are operating electric vehicles from a variety of manufacturers, in a variety of duty cycles and in various geographic locations. Although as can be expected, more than one fleet is operating their EVs in California, but we also have fleets in New York City; Georgetown, Kentucky; Vancouver, British Columbia, Montreal; Otsego, Minnesota; Concord, North Carolina; and Cincinnati, Ohio.
Despite the difference in truck size, duty cycle and location, the fleets and manufacturers we’ve spoken with have a couple of things in common: They are extremely knowledgeable about the benefits and challenges of EVs and are passionate about sharing that knowledge with others in the industry. And they also are enthusiastic about the future of electric trucking.
While the NACFE team has split up to do these site visits, the visits I made have gotten me even more excited about EV deployment than I was before. Those of you who know me, know how certain I was that the future is electric so it might be hard to understand how I can get even more excited about it.
And yet I am. These visits have energized me. Maybe it’s because I see the way these fleets have embraced EVs and the innovative things they are doing to make EVs part of their daily operations. Plus, the drivers I have spoken with have nothing but praise for the EVs they have been driving commenting on how quiet they are among other things. And the support ecosystem of truck builders, infrastructure suppliers, governments, and others are also working to make electric trucking better as we learn and adapt.
We have billed all our Run on Less events as real trucks, delivering real freight in the real world. Run on Less—Electric follows the same blueprint as our first two Run on Less events—Run on Less 2017 and Run on Less Regional. In other words, the three weeklong Run on Less—Electric demonstration will showcase electric trucks in everyday operation.
We hope you will follow the Run, which begins September 2 to see how the trucks are performing. But in the meantime, I encourage you to check out the videos so you can catch some of the enthusiasm and passion and maybe begin your own journey to an electric future.
Michael Roeth has worked in the commercial vehicle industry for nearly 30 years, most recently as executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency. He currently serves on the second National Academy of Sciences Committee on Technologies and Approaches for Reducing the Fuel Consumption of Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles and has held various positions in engineering, quality, sales and plant management with Navistar and Behr/Cummins.
