By Mike Sheldrick, Senior Editor
January 27, 2022
Cynics might call it greenwashing, but they would be wrong. It could be called a deep green drive. Twenty-four major companies, truck users all, released a survey of their planned purchases of Zero-Emission Vehicles — ZEVS, from class 1 to class 8 — over the next five years.
The group, the Corporate Vehicle Alliance, includes Amazon, Best Buy, Hertz, T- Mobile. All told, their annual revenue is more than $1 trillion, They collectively own, lease or operate more than 1.3 million vehicles in the U.S. alone.
Many CVA members operate in the burgeoning last-mile space. Amazon itself has promised to purchase 100,000 EVs by 2030. While Amazon owns 20% of start-up EV Rivian, the company has indicated that it would buy from other manufacturers.
FedEx recently acquired several ZEV vans from BrightDrop, the first of 2,000 planned, and Walmart may order up to 5,000 vans in the next five years. Ford already has orders for 150,000 of the F-150 Lightning pickups. UPS has partnered with a British startup, Arrival, to build 10,000 ZEV vans. UPS may soon add 10,000 more. Ford is the leader in this broadly defined space and has capped order for its F-150 Lightning at 200,000.
These moves are significant because the purchases are planned to cut costs. What has become increasingly clear in the last few years is that in the long run, electric vehicles are far less expensive to operate.
The CVA did its survey in conjunction with Ceres, a non-profit organization that aims to redirect capital markets to solve sustainability challenges. A 57-page report covers a wide range of desired features, from charging to acceptable range, to towing capacity for each class and vehicle segment.
In upcoming issues we’ll explore this important report more fully. In the meantime, we draw your attention to links to two provocative pieces. One, at CleanTechnica, by Steve Hanley, notes that companies are clamoring for electric trucks, but asks if anyone is listening.
A second piece, from The Atlantic, delves into the impediment the auto dealer system presents to the spread of electric cars. In seventeen states, manufacturers must sell through a dealer. Why? Because dealers make on average only 5% margin on new car sales vs. 30% margin on service. That means they have little incentive to promote electric cars, which typically require little maintenance.
