When you’re a decision-maker for a business car fleet that’s contemplating going electrical, probably the greatest issues you are able to do is to check the experiences of fleets which have efficiently electrified.
High quality Customized Distribution, a division of Golden State Meals, has been utilizing EVs in its operations for the final couple of years. FleetOwner’s Jade Brasher spoke with Shane Blanchette, Group VP of Operations at QCD, in regards to the firm’s electrification journey.
QCD, which affords distribution providers throughout the US, presently operates 40 Class 8 Volvo VNR Electrical vehicles and has 4 extra on order. The EVs are break up between two QCD services in California, at La Puente and Fontana.
The corporate started its electrification technique in 2021 with a single Volvo VNL, acquired by Volvo’s Low Affect Inexperienced Heavy Transport Options (LIGHTS) undertaking, a pilot program designed to collect data on fleet EV deployment. After solely two weeks of working the VNR Electrical, QCD ordered 14 extra with the assistance of a grant from the Cellular Supply Air Air pollution Discount Assessment Committee’s Inland Port Program. A yr later, QCD determined to order 30 extra VNR Electrical vehicles.
“The $20-million electrification undertaking contains 16 chargers and an industry-first renewable power microgrid to energy the battery-electric fleet and distribution middle in Los Angeles,” Blanchette stated.
A number of OEMs presently supply Class 8 electrical truck fashions, however QCD has caught with Volvo.
“As a Volvo Vans buyer for over 13 years, we knew we might count on the identical stage of security, consolation, and efficiency from the VNR Electrical as we’ve at all times had with the standard VNR,” Mike Douglas, QCD’s former Senior Director of Strategic Procurement, stated on the time of QCD’s first EV supply.
Getting charging infrastructure put in is often one of many largest challenges for fleets which can be going electrical, and QCD isn’t any exception. The corporate is presently counting on a brief charging resolution—transportable 50 kW DC quick chargers leased from Volvo Monetary Providers. The corporate’s everlasting charging resolution, which features a microgrid, is anticipated to be up and working later this yr, after two years of labor.
Blanchette informed FleetOwner that the timeline might have been “minimize in half, if allowing and tools lead instances [had been] extra favorable. The most important hurdles in constructing out the infrastructure had been tools procurement and allowing timelines, in addition to landlord alignment, as our facility is leased area.”
The corporate is utilizing two totally different charging infrastructure companions for its two services. “On our La Puente undertaking, we partnered with InCharge and Scale Microgrids, whereas the Fontana undertaking was coordinated by Volvo and concerned Shell Recharge.”
Each InCharge and Shell Recharge helped facilitate “grant funding identification, allowing, tools procurement, information analytics, infrastructure design and building.”
QCD initially determined to affect for sustainability causes, however has discovered one other profit: drivers love the brand new vehicles. Electrical autos have “made the drivers’ life simpler,” Blanchette stated, “which in flip, has helped with increased retention, decrease turnover, and most significantly, improved security.”
QCD’s fleet runs regional supply routes, with a median of lower than 100 miles per route. Class 8 electrical vehicles are nicely fitted to this responsibility cycle. “The brand new era of EVs in our fleet will get as much as 275 miles,” Blanchette stated. “It’s been good for QCD as a result of when the crew comes again, they nonetheless have anyplace from a 40 to 50% cost remaining on them.”
After two years, QCD has discovered that the upkeep value for its Class 8 EVs has been about half that of its legacy diesel vehicles. “When evaluating the restore and upkeep value towards similar mannequin yr and workload diesel items, we’re seeing the EVs value considerably much less,” Blanchette stated.
Supply: FleetOwner
