Penske customer testing battery-electric Freightliner near Los Angeles

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Updated Aug 5, 2020

Trucking news and briefs for Monday, Aug. 3, 2020:

Battery electric eCascadia being tested near Los Angeles
Food and beverage hauler Core-Mark has partnered with Penske Truck Leasing to deploy a battery electric Freightliner eCascadia into its fleet. Penske and Daimler Trucks North America partnered in 2018 to test electric Freightliner trucks.

The Class 8 electric truck is domiciled at Penske’s Ontario, California, facility and is being used by Core-Mark to haul between 13,000 and 18,000 pounds of food and beverages to convenience stores on the outskirts of Los Angeles. The truck will run approximately 130 miles, four days a week, making 10 to 12 stops daily.

“It’s exciting and rewarding to see our customers begin using these innovative electric vehicles in their operations,” said Paul Rosa, senior vice president of procurement and fleet planning at Penske Truck Leasing. “We are all collectively learning from the multitude of use cases in which we have deployed EVs and Core-Mark’s use of the vehicle are providing insights that will undoubtedly bring another level of understanding for our industry.”

The electric truck fleet is supported by a network of heavy-duty electric vehicle charging stations at six Penske facilities in Southern California. Penske also performs preventive maintenance at these locations.