Should you’re a decision-maker for a business car fleet that’s contemplating going electrical, among the finest issues you are able to do is to review 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 Impression Inexperienced Heavy Transport Options (LIGHTS) undertaking, a pilot program designed to assemble info 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 Cell Supply Air Air pollution Discount Overview Committee’s Inland Port Program. A yr later, QCD determined to order 30 extra VNR Electrical vehicles.
“The $20-million electrification undertaking consists of 16 chargers and an industry-first renewable power microgrid to energy the battery-electric fleet and distribution heart 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 anticipate the identical degree of security, consolation, and efficiency from the VNR Electrical as we’ve all the time 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 usually one of many greatest challenges for fleets which might be going electrical, and QCD is not any exception. The corporate is presently counting on a short lived charging answer—transportable 50 kW DC quick chargers leased from Volvo Monetary Providers. The corporate’s everlasting charging answer, which features a microgrid, is predicted to be up and working later this yr, after two years of labor.
Blanchette informed FleetOwner that the timeline might have been “reduce in half, if allowing and gear lead instances [had been] extra favorable. The most important hurdles in constructing out the infrastructure have been gear 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, gear procurement, knowledge analytics, infrastructure design and development.”
QCD initially determined to impress for sustainability causes, however has discovered one other profit: drivers love the brand new vehicles. Electrical automobiles 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 mean of lower than 100 miles per route. Class 8 electrical vehicles are nicely suited to this responsibility cycle. “The brand new technology of EVs in our fleet will get as much as 275 miles,” Blanchette stated. “It’s been excellent for QCD as a result of when the crew comes again, they nonetheless have wherever 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
