Dependable Highway Express (DHE) recently completed several electrification initiatives to further reduce the impact of Southern California freight traffic on the climate and air quality.
As part of the Volvo LIGHTS project, DHE introduced Volvo VNR Electric Class 8 trucks, battery electric yard trucks and forklifts, and loaded the infrastructure for both fleet vehicles and employee private vehicles, as well as solar panels and energy storage on-site at the shipping and receiving facility in Ontario, California. DHE has also signed a commitment to purchase an additional 10 Volvo VNR Electric trucks in 2022.
Launched two years ago, the Volvo LIGHTS project is a collaboration between Volvo Trucks, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD on the south coast) and 13 other organizations to develop a blueprint for successfully introducing battery electric trucks and equipment to the market Says Volvo.
Last September, DHE began piloting two Volvo VNR Electric heavy-duty trucks from the Ontario plant. The vehicles travel between 60 and 80 miles per day and continue to move goods between storage facilities throughout Southern California. As part of the Volvo LIGHTS project, the VNR Electric trucks drive different routes and collect data on the performance of the vehicles under different road and real operating conditions.
According to Volvo, DHE has worked closely with Volvo Trucks North America, Edison in Southern California, Greenlots, ABB, the core states and the city of Ontario to improve the power supply to the facility and are installing two 150 kW chargers. The chargers will use Greenlots' Skynet software to effectively balance the power needs of trucks, equipment, existing facilities and the power grid.
As part of the Volvo LIGHTS project, DHE has replaced all of the cargo equipment used in its shipping and receiving facility in Ontario with battery-electric models. DHE currently operates 14 Yale Electric forklifts supported by eight Level 2 (L2) forklifts and two Orange EV yard tractors supported by two additional L2 chargers.
DHE also worked with Solar Optimum, a solar installation company, to install more than 2,300 solar panels on the roof of its Ontario facility and park canopies for employees. According to the company, solar modules will generate 1.291 GWh of renewable electricity annually.
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