When it comes to electric semi trucks, the Tesla semi seems to get most of the attention. Every move a Tesla semi makes on the open road seems to get filmed by somebody and posted to social media. For Tesla fanatics, the Semi is the end-all-be-all of electric trucks, and they just aren’t very excited about other manufacturers’ offerings, assuming they’re aware of them at all.
But, while Tesla is working on limited trials of the Semi with a few companies, other manufacturers aren’t sitting on their butts. Because electric trucks can already be useful for regional hauling without the need for expensive infrastructure, other companies are not only developing and testing, but are deploying electric trucks to customers. So, in some ways, this is a corner of the EV industry where it’s possible to be ahead of Tesla, or at least keep up with it in 2023.
Perhaps most importantly, Coke Canada Bottling holds the distinction of being the first food and beverage manufacturer in Canada to embrace electric Class 8 trucks as part of its fleet, at least according to the press release. Aside from deploying zero-tailpipe emission Volvo VNR Electric trucks, Coke Canada Bottling is also implementing other fuel efficiency measures within their fleet.
Coke Canada Bottling’s Volvo VNR Electric trucks utilize a six-battery configuration, enabling a single charge to cover up to 440 km . These trucks make multiple daily round trips of 150 km from the distribution center in Montreal to customer locations in the region. To facilitate drive-through charging, three 150 kW DC chargers with nine dispensers have been installed at the Montreal Distribution Center.