Loblaw put 10 battery-electric Freightliner eCascadias to work in Vancouver

In January 2024, Loblaw Companies said it had deployed 10 battery-electric Freightliner eCascadia Class 8 trucks in Vancouver. The move more than doubled the grocer's zero-emission truck fleet.

The trucks were delivered in December 2023 by Velocity Truck Centres, an Edmonton-based dealer. The 10 Vancouver units brought Loblaw's electric truck fleet to 14.

How the trucks are used

• Loblaw planned to run the Vancouver trucks for up to two shifts a day: one moving goods to and from the ports, the other delivering to stores.
• It installed five 180 kW ABB chargers at its Pitt Meadows distribution centre, about 10 kilometres outside Coquitlam.
• Its first four eCascadias went into service in April 2023 in the Greater Montreal Area. They make short-haul runs from a distribution centre in Boucherville to about 200 stores, covering up to 370 km per charge while hauling up to 32,000 kg.

Wayne Scott, Loblaw's senior director of maintenance, said Vancouver was chosen partly for the city's focus on green initiatives and its mild climate, which helps battery-electric trucks run efficiently.

What comes next

Loblaw announced in 2022 that it aimed to run a fully zero-emission transport fleet by 2030, as part of a goal of net-zero emissions across the company by 2040. Scott said the company had 25 Tesla Semis on order and was studying the charging infrastructure it would need to expand further. Loblaw had also bought five hydrogen fuel cell Kenworth T680s in June 2023 for long-haul work, with delivery slated for 2024 and a range of more than 700 km.