As a follow-up to the successful 2021 Bootcamp webinar series, the North American Council on Freight Efficiency (NACFE) recently announced its upcoming Electric Depot Bootcamp series. Before kicking off its Run on Less – Electric DEPOT this fall, NACFE with host 10 webinars featuring more than 40 experts focused on helping the entire electric truck ecosystem understand what it takes to accelerate the deployment of EVs.
Starting on April 25, the webinars are designed to:
- Increase industry awareness of the various entities that need to work together to overcome the challenges of widespread EV deployment
- Provide professional development opportunities to decision-makers at all stages of their electrification journey
- Synthesize quick takeaways and recommendations from NACFE and RMI’s electric truck work to date
- Convene fleets, truck makers, utilities, regulators, NGOs, charging manufactures, to discuss best practices for scaling EVs at fleet depots
“There is much to learn in order to scale EV deployments and we expect these 10 training sessions will provide useful insights and best practices. We look forward to collaborating with a variety of people across the EV ecosystem,” said NACFE Executive Director Mike Roeth. “The Bootcamp sessions are free and are open to fleets, OEMs, component manufacturers, utilities, regulators, NGOs, charging system suppliers and anyone else with an interest in helping trucking move into a clean energy future.”
Webinar Series Schedule at a Glance:
- Best Practices for Utility-Fleet Relationships (April 25)
Speakers will share the best practices for the emerging necessary relationships between electric utilities and trucking fleets. What is working now in the early stages and what are ideal long- term future relationships. - Grants and Incentives for the Trucks and Infrastructure (May 16)
Infrastructure and truck costs are increasing rather than decreasing putting even more focus on available grants and incentives to help early adopter fleets make the financial case for investing in electric trucks. - Electric Truck Developments (May 30)
Truck OEMs and their component suppliers continue to mature the performance, cost, reliability, durability and specification availability of their trucks. Experts will share future enhancements and anticipated timing. - Faster Charging — Opportunities and Challenges at 350KW and Higher (June 13)
Most commercial vehicle charging in 2023 is limited to 150, maybe up to 350 kW, but faster charging is coming. Experts will discuss the opportunities and challenges of moving to much faster charging speeds to help in vehicle utilization. - Opportunities to Extend BEV Range (June 27)
Vehicle range is currently —and will always be — a concern of electric trucks given the cost, size and weight of batteries. Cold weather, heavy loads, and more challenging topography require more battery capacity. Experts will offer options such as en route, extreme fast and wireless charging as well as other strategies to get more miles out of these trucks. - Electricity Resiliency and Availability (July 11)
Planning for resiliency is just part of trucking. Given existing power demands and grid capacity challenges many electric truck depots are considering microgrids. Renewable energy generation, battery backups even onsite electric generator sets are all options to improve resiliency. - Current and Future Regulations for Zero-Emission Trucks (July 25)
Local, state and federal regulations are in the press all the time. Experts will help clarify the various laws and regulations to help fleets, manufacturers and others understand how they affect their business in various regions. - Managed Charging to Improve Availability, Cost and Range (August 8)
As higher numbers of electric vehicles are deployed at each site, the need to manage the charging becomes even greater. Leaders will share the current and future state of using software to more effectively manage charging events. - Scaling Charging Infrastructure Equipment (August 22)
Experts will share thoughts on scaling charging equipment from a few to a dozen of chargers and ultimately to 100% of a site’s needs. - Electric Depot Site Planning and Construction (September 5)
Lessons learned for depot site planning for different phases of electric vehicle deployment as well as how to best manage the construction phase will be discussed. Special focus will be on construction while concurrently continuing all logistics operations.
Register today for this upcoming series of ground-breaking webinars that will focus on the challenges and solutions to moving the commercial vehicle industry into the next wave of EV deployment.
