It’s messy here in the middle of trucking’s transition to a cleaner freight future. But as I pointed out in our recent thought leadership report, Navigating the Messy Middle: The Move to More Sustainable Trucking, messy is not necessarily a bad thing.
I don’t think you can have a mess without there being a lot of “things.” In the case of trucking’s Messy Middle, those “things” are a variety of powertrain options. For nearly a century, diesel has been the fuel of choice for most fleets, with a small percentage of trucks running on gasoline or natural gas. Here in the Messy Middle, powertrain options abound, and fleets can consider renewable and biodiesel, compressed natural gas, renewable CNG, hybrids, battery electric, hydrogen ICE, and hydrogen fuel cells for their trucks.
Not all these technologies are at the same level of development, and except for diesel, none can be used in every duty cycle. However, our Messy Middle gets less messy when we look at vehicle class, routes, loads, etc. We already know that BEVs are a viable option in specific applications—terminal tractors, vans and step vans, medium-duty box trucks, and heavy-duty tractors in short regional haul. For more information on fleets successfully deploying BEVs in these applications, check out our reports from Run on Less—Electric.
See also: NACFE offers industry road map through 'Messy Middle'
The other thing about the Messy Middle is the middle part. When we think of a middle, we also logically think of the beginning and wonder about the end. We can easily learn about the beginning of the trucking industry and are well acquainted with some of the key movers and shakers from the beginning of trucking through today.
Today, we are seeing some of the traditional truck makers offering alternative powertrains, but there are also some new kids on the block—not all of whom will make it through to the end, as we have already seen some new players drop out. However, it is pretty standard to see startups fail for many reasons, and the failures do not mean the technology is not viable.
No one knows with 100% certainty what the future of trucking will look like, but NACFE is betting on it being battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell from clean energy. Time will tell if our assessment is correct.
This year, we are embarking on Run on Less – Messy Middle to clarify alternative powertrains in the Class 8 long-haul market for both sleepers and day cabs in return-to-base and over-the-road duty cycles.
We are in the process of selecting fleets to participate in the Run this fall and to learn from them about how they are navigating through the Messy Middle.
In the meantime, I encourage all fleets to embrace the middle's messiness and explore what options make sense for them. The Messy Middle really is a good thing, given the number of choices fleets have.
