NACFE Releases Data-Driven Report

From Executive Director Mike Roeth

By now perhaps you have seen our second report on Run on Less – Electric DEPOT, Run on Less – Electric DEPOT: Scaling BEVs in the Real World.

The report validated the findings released shortly after the event in 2023, but also shared new findings. We did a little something different following this Run in that we held a data workshop in March 2024. Workshop participants were required to present their own analyses of the Run data. This was described as a data potluck event, where attendees needed to bring a dish — an analysis that you presented — to attend. Participants were assured anonymity under Chatham House Rule. The goal of the workshop was to showcase real-world, best of the best in trucking, demonstrating that zero-emission solutions are now viable. The workshop also facilitated industry sharing between fleets, manufacturers and other stakeholders in a non-competitive setting.

The meeting was lively and there was a great interchange of information between meeting attendees. It was very helpful to have a wider group of people share what they learned from the data collected during the Run.

This helped us solidify our addition findings. In short those are:

• Electric vans, trucks and heavy-duty tractors are on the road today and are performing well in many duty cycles.
• Infrastructure, both at the depots and strategically placed along freight corridors, is needed now.
• Heavy-duty tractor OEMs should make cost and weight improvements a priority.
• More realistic data on all key performance metrics is needed.

The report goes into more details about these findings as well as providing information on the growing list of fleets that are electrifying depots. As is typical of all NACFE reports, we look at the benefits of electrification as well as the challenges fleets face as they work to decarbonize their operations.

I want to thank all the fleets, OEMs, utilities that participated in the Run and sharing their journeys with the industry and I also want to thank the companies that participated in the data workshop for their thoughtful analysis of the data from the Run. Moving to a cleaner freight future is going to take a collaborative effort and we appreciate all the groups that have been willing to work collaboratively for the betterment of trucking.

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