PORTLAND, Oregon — Every time you go to a store or a restaurant, what you're buying, eating and using was most likely delivered on a gas-powered vehicle. Those in the trucking industry may say, 'If you bought it, a truck brought it.'
"That's exactly right, 80% of goods are moved by a truck," said Keith Wilson, CEO of Milwaukie-based Titan Freight Systems. "It could be knock down desks, it could be cleaning supplies for our hotels and hospitality, it could be printed paper products."
Since transportation accounts for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, consumption is directly linked to carbon dioxide and warming temperatures.
Titan is taking a major step toward cutting those emissions this year by rolling out three all-electric box trucks from Daimler, the Freighliner eM-2.
"The really good thing about these short haul trucks, is 80% of all products move 300-miles or less, and so these local trucks have tremendous upside potential, almost overnight, because the vast majority of units we have are short haul," Wilson said.
Titan has seven hubs in the region and makes delivery runs across Oregon, Washington and Northern Idaho. The new trucks will join a fleet of three electric tractor trailers that have been in service since fall 2023. All together, they'll tackle 150,000 miles of zero-emission deliveries this year.
"They’re operationally efficient, their uptime has been solid, the driver likeability of the vehicles are strong, the emissions reductions in our workplace — both in the drivers and the shops are — all favorable," Wilson said. "We’ve had a really good experience with this transition."
Daimler has done more than just engineer a better truck.
"We’ve gone beyond a traditional role as a truck manufacturer, offering services and product solutions that particularly support their transition to electrification," said Katie Rabideau, a spokesperson for Daimler.
From making sure all the technology works, to the expense of installing upgraded electric service and chargers, it takes a big commitment for freight haulers to go electric. In Titan's case, that was about a million dollars.
With the help of a lengthy service agreement with Portland General Electric, the power utility company covered about half the cost.
Wilson said state and federal incentives will go a long way to help with the rest.
"Everyone we worked with was rowing in the same direction, the permit office, the utility, charging infrastructure suppliers, truck manufacturers, DEQ, and a host of other organizations," he said.
The total cost of ownership of the three medium duty trucks is 29% less than diesel counterparts, according to Wilson.
"Putting pencil to paper really shows that is a benefit to everybody, their staff, their bottom line, and to their communities," he said.
Chris McGinness is a meteorologist and reporter for KGW News. Find him here and on social media: Facebook, Instagram and X.
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