Purolator to participate in Run on Less – Electric Depot demonstration

The North American Council for Freight Efficiency’s (NACFE) Run on Less – Electric Depot demonstration will include some decidedly Canadian power and routes this fall, with Purolator joining the list of participating fleets.

The Canada Post subsidiary and California-based US Foods add to previously announced participants including Frito-Lay, OK Produce, Penske, PepsiCo, Performance Team, Schneider, UPS, and Watt EV.

“It’s exciting to have a Canadian fleet participating and great to add another California fleet too,” NACFE executive director Mike Roeth said in a press release.

Run on Less – Electric Depot will gather data on trucks, chargers and infrastructure alike.

“But the trucks are a key element of the run, and having data on a variety of equipment will help fleets operating in a variety of duty cycles learn more about how to add electric vehicles to their operations,” Roeth added.

Evaluated trucks

Purolator, which has committed to invest $1 billion in electrifying its network over the next seven years, will measure results using a Class 6 Motiv step van and Ford eTransit van completing e-commerce package deliveries. The fleet evaluated a Motiv step van in the 2021 Run on Less – Electric demonstration.

Several trucks included in this year’s run were not included in the 2021 Run on Less – Electric demonstration. One notable addition will include two rare Tesla Semis operated by PepsiCo.

Freightliner will have a presence with two eCascadias operating in a slip-seat drayage run for Schneider, a Freightliner Custom Chassis step van and eCascadia operated by UPS, and two eCascadias delivering food for US Foods.

Penske will be tracking results with a Freightliner eCascadia, Canadian-manufactured GM BrightDrop, and Navistar eMV, demonstrating heavy-, light- and medium-duty duty cycles.

Volvo VNR electrics will support runs by Performance Team as well as OK Produce, the latter of which will also be capturing data with Orange EV terminal tractors.

Rounding out the list, Frito-Lay will complete urban deliveries with two Ford eTransit vans, and WattEV will track a pair of Nikola Tre BEVs at the Port of Long Beach, Calif.

The run begins Sept. 11.