Anheuser-Busch will deploy 21 BYD battery electric trucks in its California fleet as part of a state project to showcase economically and environmentally sustainable warehousing and distribution technology. It’s the largest Class 8 electric truck deployment in North America.
‘The Zero Emission Beverage Handling and Distribution at Scale’ project will showcase BYD’s second generation 8TT Class 8 electric trucks at four Anheuser-Busch distribution facilities across southern California: Sylmar, Riverside, Pomona, and Carson.
As part of the project, a southern California-based team from ENGIE will lead the design and installation of charging infrastructure at all four facilities. ENGIE will also be installing and commissioning a 958.5 kW solar array at the Carson site, which will generate zero-emissions power to offset the use of conventional energy in the charging process, further reducing emissions and resource consumption.
“At Anheuser-Busch, we are committed to leading our industry towards a more sustainable future by reducing our carbon emissions across our value chain by 25% by 2025,” said Angie Slaughter, VP-Sustainability Procurement at Anheuser-Busch. “The transport industry is one that is prime for innovative solutions and we are excited to continue driving progress towards a zero-emission fleet through this partnership.”
“This project represents a huge step forward in integrating clean energy and clean transportation to realize the full environmental benefits of battery electric vehicles,” said Joel Donham, an Engineering Consultant at Center for Transportation and the Environment..
As part of the initial validation, Anheuser-Busch put the BYD 8TT through extensive testing on range, acceleration, gradeability, charging speed, and more. The truck exceeded the requirements of Anheuser-Busch and received enthusiastic feedback from drivers, clearing the path to this large-scale deployment.
The project includes equipment testing, a one-year demonstration period, data collection, and associated reporting. CTE anticipates the trucks to begin operation near the end of 2019 with full project completion in early 2021.