Daimler Trucks North America announced Wednesday, Sept. 2, that Meijer — a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer that operates 189 supercenters throughout the Midwest — has purchased 40 2010 emissions-compliant Freightliner Cascadia trucks equipped with Detroit Diesel DD13 engines with BlueTec emissions technology. Daimler says this represents its first fleet order for 2010-compliant trucks.
Meijer, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency SmartWay-certified retailer, also recently has announced a variety of green initiatives, including the installation of rooftop wind turbines on a number of its stores. Daimler says the introduction of aerodynamic Cascadia trucks with BlueTec delivers near-zero tailpipe emissions and is a continuation of Meijer’s green initiatives.
According to Tom McCall, vice president of logistics for Meijer, the pairing of the aerodynamic Cascadia with the DD13 engine effectively matched Meijer’s criteria for reliability, fuel economy, durability and serviceability. The first delivery of the trucks is expected to take place in the fourth quarter of this year, well ahead of the emissions regulations scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2010.
Daimler says its commitment to meeting environmental challenges is reflected in the company’s early adoption, research and development of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technologies.
“We invested over a decade in the design of emissions technologies to optimize the entire powertrain system for our North American trucking customers, and we’re especially pleased to be selected by Meijer as their supplier of choice,” says Mark Lampert, senior vice president of sales for Daimler Trucks North America. “Meijer is at the forefront of business and environmental strategies, and we are proud to deliver Detroit Diesel’s BlueTec to them as a proven technology that will deliver a significant return on their emissions technology investment and an operational advantage of up to 5 percent over current 2007 trucks in their fleet.”
