The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) and Rocky Mountain Insitute (RMI) will be conducting Run on Less – Electric (RoL-E), a real-world electric truck technology demonstration featuring 13 trucks driving real routes, carrying real freight.

Starting in September 2021, the three-week demonstration will showcase electric trucks in everyday operation. Each Run highlights a specific trucking segment and details how these drivers and fleets deliver high efficiency.

In September 2017, NACFE worked with seven fleets and numerous supporting suppliers on the original Run on Less to determine a benchmark for best-in-class fuel economy. Run on Less Regional was held in October 2019 with a focus on trucks that operate 300 miles from base.

Both Run on Less Regional and Run on Less 2017 featured real-time monitoring of a number of factors including miles traveled, fuel consumed, pickups and deliveries, elevation change, and vehicle speed among others.

"When the NACFE team and I first started kicking around the idea of conducting another Run on Less demonstration in 2021, we explored several ideas," NACFE executive director Mike Roeth said in an e-message. "Given the Run’s history, we wanted to do something bold, and that culminated in us putting together the plan for Run on Less – Electric. We had some program approval checks that we planned to use to determine if we could, in fact, make a Run with electric trucks a reality."

The event is being funded by title sponsors Dana, Shell and Meritor, as well as event and supporter sponsors who are making the event possible.

"The next hurdle was getting fleets and their OEM partners to agree to participate," Roeth said. We understand we are in the nascent stages of electric truck deployment and recognized it was a big ask of fleets and electric truck manufacturers to put their electric freight vehicles on public display knowing these were not production models." The goal was to get 10 fleets coupled with their manufacturers to participate in the Run.

In the end, 13 bold fleets agreed to sign on for the three-week Run: • Alpha Baking Co. operating a Workhorse C1000 in Chicago • Anheuser-Busch using a BYD tractor in Los Angeles, California • Biagi Brothers operating a Peterbilt 579E out of Sonoma, California• Cardenas Inc. using an Xos van in Ventura, California • NFI using a Volvo VNR Electric out of Chino, California• Penske operating a Freightliner eCascadia in Los Angeles, California • PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Division using a Cummins box truck in Modesto, California • Purolator operating a Motiv-powered step van in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • Roush Fenway Racing using a ROUSH CleanTech truck out of Concord, North Carolina• Ruan using an OrangeEV terminal tractor in Otsego, Minnesota • Ryder using a Lonestar Specialty Vehicles terminal tractor in Georgetown, KY • SAQ: Quebec Liquor Board operating a LION8 truck in Montreal, Quebec, Canada • TBD operating a Lightning eMotors truck in the New York City area

The interest in electric vehicles is spreading across North America as more companies recognize the value of zero-emission solutions.• There are three vans, three medium-duty box trucks, a heavy-duty truck and four heavy-duty tractors in drayage and regional haul and two terminal tractors.• Six operate in California, two in Canada and five more in rest of the United States.• They are delivering home goods, beer, wine and liquor, baked goods, snacks, groceries, auto parts, mail and packages, and general freight.

The Run starts Sept. 3 at ACT Expo in Long Beach. Information:https://runonless.com/