I abhor grouping people by age, ethnicity, gender or nationality. The only accurate grouping is that we are people — that all-inclusive categorization. Yet authors and speakers make big bucks artificially categorizing people. A more recent trend is celebrating high performers by grouping them as “Top 30 under 30.” I’m all for celebrating achievement, but where are the listings of “60 over 60?”
In the last few weeks, we seen tremendous accomplishments by performers like Dolly Parton and Cher, and we’ve sadly seen the passing of historical icons like Sandra Day O’Connor, Henry Kissinger and Roslyn Carter. Winston Churchill regained the Prime Minister role when he was 77. Henry Ford introduced the Model A when he was 65.
It can take time to make an impact, so I get that there are some advantages to age. George Bernard Shaw is quoted as saying that youth is wasted on the young — perhaps a musing that age permits some reflection on life’s choices.
My career has allowed me to meet people in the trucking industry of every age. Just going to events like TMC, ACT Expo or Women in Trucking will get you face time with thousands of people in short order. Most recently with NACFE’s Run on Less Electric demonstration in 2021 and with Run on Less Electric – DEPOT in 2023, I’ve had the opportunity to talk to truck drivers ranging from their 20s to 70s — men and woman of all ethnicities and backgrounds.
This diverse group has universally been “excited” about the opportunity to drive electric trucks. They “love” driving these trucks for the performance, quietness and, yes, lack of odor.
I recall doing a truck stop intercept survey at a truck stop in Oklahoma a decade ago. I was wearing my OEM hat and clean white shirt that clearly indicated I probably was out of place in the parking lot. I caught a driver getting out of the cab. After assuring him I was not with the government, and offering up an even better OEM hat, he agreed to let me interview him as we took the long walk to the truck stop building. He said that he had once been interested in being his own owner-operator boss, but the economy had forced him to drive as an employee. He said the job was just a job, not a career. He expressed no excitement over the truck as he didn’t own it and just drove what was assigned to him. In his view, new technology just complicated his job.
Another truck stop intercept was in Phoenix. There were a lot of flat beds with odd loads running through Phoenix, including a World War II tank headed to a museum and some massive John Deere combines. I was focused on talking about progress with making trucks more aerodynamic. This was not the choir for that sermon. Multiple drivers expressed they couldn’t care less, and quite rightly, having an aerodynamic tractor pulling a distinctly non-aerodynamic load like a combine means all the MPG benefits evaporate. Still, there was not a lot of excitement about new technology, rather there was a fear that it would worsen their driving experience, make their job harder or waste valuable time in their hours of service.
Several of the NACFE interviews in the Run on Less demonstrations were with drivers old enough to consider retiring. Repeatedly these drivers volunteered that the opportunity to drive electric trucks actually was keeping them in the driver pool.
We talked with women who volunteered that electric trucks make driving much easier, and they would never go back to diesels. I recall spending a great deal of engineering time in the 1990s investigating just how much clutch pressure was required to satisfy drivers in the 5% to 95% ergonomic profiles. I remember the first time I tried to open the hood of a long nose truck at a truck show, and failed, needing help from someone twice my weight and taller.
When was the last time you talked with someone truly excited about new trucking technology, I mean someone who actually has to use it rather than someone with vested interests selling it? When did you see people of all ages, genders, nationalities and ethnicities immediately smile when they started talking about driving a new technology?
I’ve spent years in this industry having to talk up the positives of new technologies to fleets and drivers that viewed any new technology as a threat. Years of trying to rationalize positive aspects of things like aerodynamics or low rolling resistance tires to people who felt they were a waste of time.
It has been refreshing to interview fleets and drivers about their first-hand experiences with electric trucks. While everything is not roses, driving these trucks was such a positive experience that they positively gush about it.
Solving the perpetual driver shortage requires attracting drivers of all types. Electric vehicles have the potential to be a universal positive for fleets in attracting and holding on to drivers. Probably the first technology I’ve seen in my career with that draw.
