NACFE-You may not have heard of them yet you may want to get some good inside info. Their upcoming series is addressing clean, Greened transportation to the biggest names in the world. Thanks Michael Roeth!
From Executive Director Mike Roeth "We’re about halfway through our site visits to interview the fleet executives, drivers and OEMs that are participating in the upcoming Run on Less – Electric. Speaking for myself and my colleagues Jessie Lund, Jennifer Wheeler, Rick Mihelic, Dave Schaller and Kevin Otto, who have been helping complete these interviews, it really has been an amazing experience. NACFE prides itself on being real-world focused and the team went into these interviews with the mindset of presenting the good, the bad and the ugly about these early EV deployments. And to be clear, they have not been without their challenges, but fleets don’t seem to have any regrets about making the decision to start running EVs. I loved what one fleet executive said: “If the wheels aren’t turning, we’re not learning.” This is an attitude that seems pervasive across all the fleets we have spoken with. They are looking at these early deployments of EVs as an opportunity to learn everything they can about them from the trucks themselves, to drivers’ reaction to and acceptance of EVs, to how to best work with electric utilities in managing charging. Presumably they will use what they are learning to help with the wholesale deployment of EVs fleet-wide or at least in duty cycles where they make sense. Driver reaction has been positive especially from more seasoned drivers. We all have heard stories about how veteran drivers are technology averse, but the drivers we have interviewed were very upbeat about EVs and very vocal about why they like them. Drivers talk about how quiet the EVs are and how they feel safer because they can more easily hear what is going on outside the truck. They also marvel about how easy and clean the fueling is – no spilled diesel on their boots. We have a few more fleets to visit and once all the interviews are completed, we’ll share our findings more fully with you. But for now, know that the fleets running EVs today have a “bring it on” attitude and are intrigued about solving the challenges that EVs present". We can’t wait to see all the cool stuff we’ll learn once all the trucks hit the road starting September 2. Make sure to check out updates of the Run at runonless.com or follow the Run on Twitter.