BBU is purchasing five electric vans from Motiv Power Systems, which designed electric trucks used in a pilot with the United States Postal Service.
Earlier this month, Motiv was named one of the winners of US business magazine Fast Company’s 2019 World Changing Ideas Awards, for its one-size-can-fit-all solution to electric vehicles.
Motiv’s ‘Electric Powered Intelligent Chassis’ (EPIC) allows commercial fleets to convert from gas to electric without buying a new vehicle. Motiv built the chassis based on Ford’s popular F-59 truck platform.
“Sustainability is built into our company’s purpose – building a sustainable, highly productive and deeply humane company – and we continue to look at alternative technology to reduce our overall carbon footprint,” Eric McCann, fleet manager at BBU, told BakeryandSnacks.
The first five trucks will deliver directly to stores in California, but he would not rule out further expansion.
“We look forward to potentially expanding our fleet nationally as the technology progresses,” he said.
The food delivery frontier
BBU’s EPIC trucks will also be fitted with the industry-standard step van bodies from Utilimaster, but in a ‘cost-effective, zero-emissions’ format.
"Last mile delivery of baked goods is a perfect use case for EPIC based step vans," said Motiv CEO Matt O'Leary, referring to the final step in delivering products from a transportation hub to their end destination.
In this case, BBU is transporting lightweight baked goods to retailers on a regular basis.
"These are high-volume, low-weight applications operating on fixed routes. As such, they are particularly well-suited for electrification," added O’Leary.
Switching to electric vehicles can save companies up to 85% of delivery costs, according to Motiv, and its environmental impact is massive: a diesel truck traveling 1k miles with a 2k load emits 3.24 metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.
An electric truck emits zero.
Last year, Grupo Bimbo collaborated with Giant Motors to build the first Mexican-made electric car.
Electric Vehicles Initiative
Global stock of electric cars surpassed 3m in 2017, according to the International Energy Agency, an autonomous intergovernmental organization based in Paris.
Norway is the biggest devotee of electric cars, accounting for nearly 40% of ownership, however, followed by Sweden at about 7%.
Electric buses lag behind, but their numbers are growing. Global stock reached 370,000 in 2017, driven by China’s adoption of the technology.
The Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI), developed by the Paris Agreement to help curb carbon emissions to sustain warming temperatures under 2°C (35.6°F), set a target of 30% market share for electric vehicles by 2030.
As part of its campaign to reach that 30% share, which includes cars, buses and trucks, EVI is encouraging the public and private sector to adopt electric vehicles in company and supplier fleets.