GREEN BAY, Wis. — Schneider will soon begin taking delivery of nearly 100 Class 8 battery electric vehicles (BEV) at its intermodal operations in Southern California.
Schneider’s first Freightliner eCascadia, manufactured by Daimler Truck North America (DTNA), is set to roll off the assembly line at the Portland, Oregon, DTNA plant, a news release stated.
The carrier had previously reported orders for 62 eCascadias. Now the company will deploy an additional 30 BEVs from DTNA. As a result, Schneider will have one of the largest electric fleets in North America, “marking a critical step in the company’s efforts to operationalize zero emission vehicles into its truck fleet,” according to the news release.
“The integration of nearly 100 zero emission vehicles is an important milestone for Schneider as we are moving beyond the battery electric truck testing phase to running an operation at scale,” said Schneider President and CEO Mark Rourke. “In combination with rail movement, we can offer our intermodal customers meaningful emissions reduction value by utilizing BEV dray trucks.”
Rourke said that battery electric trucks are “crucial in meeting Schneider’s sustainability goals of reducing CO2 per-mile emissions by 7.5% by 2025 and 60% by 2035.”
Schneider has already achieved more than half of its 2025 goal by reducing per-mile emissions by 5%.
The new eCascadias have the potential to avoid over 81,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per day and over the course of a year that is equivalent to removing 2,400 gas-powered cars from the road, the news release stated.
Schneider is already familiar with electric vehicle technology, having piloted an eCascadia for six months through Freightliner’s Customer Experience fleet.
“As the leading heavy-duty truck manufacturer, we are fully committed to reduce emissions with our vehicles and to move the commercial transportation industry into a more sustainable future,” said DTNA Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing David Carson. “We are proud to share the same vision with Schneider and to partner closely with them on integrating eCascadias into their fleet.”
Schneider expects all 92 BEVs to be operational in its fleet by the end of 2023.
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
