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Urban Impact took delivery of our first all-electric vehicle, a Peterbilt 579EV. Adding this 100% electric truck to the fleet is the start of a transition to an all-electrical trucking fleet.
What Our Truck Will Do
It’s technically a truck, but we refer to it as the “Tractor”. Our new tractor services many of our commercial customers who require a trailer load of material to be moved from their location to our Lower Mainland New Westminster Plant.
The kilometer range for the Tractor is approximately 200 km per charge. On routes within city limits, Urban Impact can comfortably operate the Tractor ten (10) hours a day. Our newly installed fast charging station allows us to recharge the battery when it’s below 25% of capacity.
Our Mission is to Reduce Waste
Our mission from the start has been to reduce waste. Zero emissions is part of this mission and is also part of the Canadian Government Climate Action Plan.
Costs and Challenges
While it’s our goal to transition our entire trucking fleet to electric, the transition will not be easy. Simpler straight trucks, such as Tractors and Vans, will be easier and a reasonably straightforward transition to electric power. However, vocational industry trucks such as front-load and rear-load will take more time because of the complexity of the equipment and the battery storage capabilities.
The cost to transition to electric is expensive. An electric Tractor comes with a purchase price of $500,000 CAD versus $225,000 CAD for a similar diesel Tractor. This increased capital cost is significant, but we anticipate that prices will likely come down over time as technology evolves.
Although the initial purchase price is high, the daily operating cost is lower. Fueling with electricity is less expensive than fueling with diesel, and repairs and maintenance should decrease over time as there are far fewer moving parts and no oil to change.
Our driving team is excited to drive Tractor because it is quiet to operate, powerful to drive, and the first of its kind!
The Future of Our Tractor
This is an exciting time for our Trucking Services team! The electric truck technology of today will continue to serve our city routes in the Lower Mainland. As we get more comfortable with this Tractor and its capabilities, we plan to test the Tractor on roads with hills and further distances.
While we wait for technology to improve and adoption to become mainstream, we are exploring several government grants that are available to subsidize the capital cost to help speed up our zero waste goal.
