A fleet of electric Peterbilt 579EV Class 8 trucks is being put to work on container-hauling routes at the Port of Vancouver as part of a new, data-sharing pilot program designed to measure real-world benefits of electric drayage trucks on first-mile delivery routes.
Most Electrek readers probably understand “last-mile delivery,” but “first-mile delivery” may be less familiar. At its most basic, it’s the movement of containers from ports or manufacturing centers to nearby rail yards and truck terminals before they begin the next leg of their journey to warehouses and distribution centers. These trucks travel short, predictable routes under heavy payloads all day every day, often returning to a “home” lot at night, making first-mile drayage one of the most promising applications for electrification.
That’s the generally accepted theory, anyway – and this new ELECTRA pilot aims to prove that the math maths.
Launched through Canada’s ELECTRA (ELEctric Container TRucking progrAm), the new pilot is offering five port shipping companies heavily subsidized 60-month lease terms on new Class 8 electric semi trucks and their supporting charging infrastructure. The ELECTRA deal also covers associated maintenance costs, technical support, and technician training to ensure the maximum utilization for each truck. That’s a critical piece of this, because when it comes to EVs: the more you drive, the better it gets.
The program officially launched in May, with shipping company Simard Westlink deploying a Peterbilt Model 579EV (show, above) as the first vehicle in the program.
“The ELECTRA program has been game changing for our operations in Vancouver,” Jason Hansen, director of operations for shipper Simard Westlink, told Electrive. “It’s allowed us to be more open-minded to alternative power [and] the ability to use advanced technology and lower costs, all while having zero emissions.”
The program received an estimated $3 million in combined support from Transport Canada, the Province of British Columbia, and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, with additional funding set to come from BC Hydro’s EV Fleet Program. In addition to Simard, Aheer Transportation, Lally Bros. Holding, TransBC Freight, and West Coast Freight make up the rest of the ELECTRA participants.
Data will be recorded by all five companies’ trucks over the next year, and shared with both industry and government partners to inform the future adoption of battery electric semi trucks.
Electrek’s Take
Sharp-eyed readers will remember a conceptually similar Transport Canada data-sharing pilot from last year, which followed both diesel- and battery-powered Class 8 trucks as they drove more than 200,000 km (124,224 miles) over a year of operations on real Montreal-area roads, providing one of the cleanest apples-to-apples datasets comparing diesel to electric yet.
That test showed electric semi fleets could save up to $160,000 per truck, and it sounds like the people behind ELECTRA are expecting similarly huge results from their study. “Drayage and medium-haul Class 8 are the segments where electrification has crossed the line from possible to practical,” said Frans Tjallingii, founder and CEO of 7Gen, the group that leased the big electric Pete to Simard Westlink – and we couldn’t agree more.
SOURCE | IMAGES: 7Gen, via Electrive.
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