Dive Brief:
- XPO plans to deploy its electric-powered straight trucks in San Pedro Bay in April, a company spokesperson told Trucking Dive in an email.
- The trucks have been received from the manufacturer and will be outfitted with trailers built in-house by XPO at its facility in Arkansas, CEO Mario Harik told Trucking Dive in an interview. He did not share the number of trucks or their make or model.
- The company plans to use the trucks in Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Jose. “We're excited to get them up and running," Harik said. “They are about to go live. ... They're in the process of getting inducted.”
Dive Insight:
Among a growing number of fleets that have tiptoed into the EV truck market, XPO is electrifying mostly lighter duty, box trucks in California that it intends to use for city deliveries.
The smaller trucks are well suited for pickup and delivery operations, especially in residential city neighborhoods “where you have limited space for the Class 8 vehicle to be there,” Harik said.
That’s not the only reason it’s starting small: Class 8 vehicles face mileage and charging infrastructure challenges, Harik told analysts last year. Even getting the smaller trucks online is taking longer than XPO had anticipated; the company declined to provide a specific reason for the delay.
Due to toughening environmental standards in California, big carriers like XPO have to buy zero-emission vehicles starting this year.
Despite the industry’s concerns about EVs and the infrastructure required to electrify heavy-duty trucking, a growing number of carriers and other companies have begun adopting the technology.
Estes Express Lines, Walmart Canada, Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling, Penske Truck Leasing, Pitt Ohio and Ryder System, among other companies, also have ordered or received deliveries of zero-emissions trucks in recent months.
