As NACFE prepares for next year’s Run on Less – Messy Middle demonstration, we spent some time reviewing the findings from Run on Less – Electric DEPOT. One of the key findings from that report was that more realistic data on all key performance metrics of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is needed.
We found that there is a need for better quality performance data on BEV operations — not measured solely on the vehicle, but also measured at the charger, at the depot and from a utility perspective. Information needs to be realistic and not focus on “worst case” scenarios as those do not accurately represent the reality of the current state of BEV development. In addition, it takes a joint effort from a variety of sources to electrify a depot and each of these participants requires its own type of data for different reasons.
That got me thinking and it seems to me that we actually could use more realistic data on many things that are occurring in trucking, including renewable diesel, renewable natural gas, hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen ICE and more.
What I find interesting is that the Run on Less fleets exhibited the exact opposite behavior of most people when it comes to giving reviews. As most of you know, Letty and I travel a great deal and when we are looking for places to eat, we check out reviews. I would say that overwhelmingly people who post restaurant reviews on social media do so only when they have had a bad experience. That makes it hard to get a realistic sense of what a restaurant is really like.
The same is true when we only share the good news. To be clear, I am not suggesting that fleets not share what goes well in their move to cleaner transportation of goods. Frankly, I don’t think trucking toots its own horn often enough. I suggest that when fleets are sharing their electrification journeys, or their experience with any other alternative fuels, that they celebrate what is going well. That might encourage others to at least begin to look at more sustainable options for moving freight.
Then I ask them to share the not-so-good stuff. It’s okay to be blunt, just make sure you share your struggles in a professional manner. Moving away from traditional diesel is hard, and it is important that we all know where the pain points are because understanding what is going wrong gives trucking industry stakeholders an opportunity to find solutions that can benefit all of us.
I do ask that when providing comments to keep in mind that some of the technology we are trying to deploy is relatively new to trucking. There are bound to be bumps in the road as manufacturers work out bugs in early iterations of their vehicles, chargers, etc.
When we were interviewing the people involved in Run on Less – Electric DEPOT (we competed a total of 122 interviews), we got a lot of positive feedback on how the deployment of BEVs was going at the various depots. On the other hand, there were people not involved in the Run that quickly went to sharing those worst-case scenarios.
And while it was good to hear the positive about the fleets’ journeys, I would have liked to learn a little bit more about the struggles. Having the whole story — the good and the bad — truly is more beneficial for fleet managers who are contemplating adding new technology of any kind. Going in with eyes wide open makes any transition easier.
Once we have selected the fleets for Run on Less – Messy Middle, we once again plan to conduct site visits where we will be interviewing a host of people. I am going to encourage the people I interview to give it to me straight. I can take it. I want to celebrate the good, uncover the bad and even hear a little about the ugly for the good of the industry.
