Frito Lay is doing something healthy and good for the environment — the snack giant, which has the world’s seventh largest privately owned commercial fleet, signed an agreement with Electric Vehicles International (EVI) for the launch of an electric vehicle pilot.
EVI is based out of Stockton, California, and it’s been developing zero-emission, all-electric powertrains for 20 years. Regular CleanTechnica readers — and those with even an iota of common sense — know why zero emission vehicles are so important and how damaging carbon dioxide and particulate emissions can be for both the environment and the people in it. Frito Lay’s move toward reducing its carbon footprint is welcome indeed.
Electric Vehicle Conversion Made Easy
EVI specializes in all-electric powertrains. Its signature product has been developed to fit into an industry standard Daimler Freightliner M2 business class chassis — allowing for both lower emissions and lower fuel cost. EVI claims that the EVI-MD (Medium Duty) — fitted with its powertrain — is one of the most versatile electric trucks on the market, with a 90-mile range and a top speed of 65 mph.
Frank Jenkins, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for EVI, spoke briefly regarding the new partnership:
“EVI is excited to work with Frito-Lay on expanding their fleet of electric vehicles. Frito-Lay is a leader in the adoption of zero emission delivery vehicles and is the ideal customer and fleet application for our medium duty, return-to-base trucks.”
Given the size of Frito Lay’s private commercial fleet, Jenkins is right to be optimistic — there are quite a few vehicles there which could feasibly be converted to electric. Currently, though, Frito Lay has just bought and tested a single EVI-MD on a delivery route in Alameda, California, and committed to purchasing another five. The next batch of EVs going to Frito Lay will be used in northern California as well, perhaps making use of the new electric highway.
For its part, Frito Lay’s senior director of Fleet Capability, Mike O’Connell, has also spoken about the company’s commitment to minimizing its carbon footprint:
“Frito-Lay and its parent PepsiCo are regularly evaluating innovative and industry leading approaches and technologies to improve the performance of the fleet, while also trying to minimize the environmental impact. The EVI electric vehicles give Frito-Lay another promising option to help meet our long term goal of being the greenest fleet in North America.”
It’s definitely a promising start, but let’s wait to see how far Frito Lay North America goes in converting its massive fleet to something cleaner and greener.
Questions or comments? Let us know below.
Source & Image: EVI
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