The electric truck market has been a hot topic in the past year or so. But have you heard of Xos? No, you haven’t. (If you have, I apologize, and I commend you.) Of course, this is not the pickup truck market we’re talking about. Xos produces electric Class 5 and Class 8 commercial trucks, and as you can see in the headline, it has landed a big order with FedEx — with 35 FedEx ground operators, to be specific.
The 120 zero-emission electric trucks these 35 FedEx operators ordered will get the vehicles delivered in Q4 2021 and 2022. More vehicles may be ordered and delivered in 2022 and 2023. Here are some comments from Xos execs:
“Working with FedEx Ground operators, who operate every day within FedEx’s global delivery and logistics network, both validates our business model and our innovative, cost-efficient, zero emission and operationally ready products, which are tailored for commercial fleets focusing on last-mile delivery,” said Dakota Semler, Xos’ Co-Founder and CEO.
“We are pleased to support the electrification of FedEx’s medium duty pickup-and-delivery fleet across several U.S. states as FedEx continues to advance sustainability efforts and work toward achieving carbon emissions goals across its global business. We are thrilled with our current FedEx Ground relationships and look forward to expanding them further among the 4,000 FedEx Ground operators who support the FedEx network.”
“We are delighted to provide our FedEx Ground customers with our best-in-class electric trucks. We look forward to continuing to support them in meeting their site infrastructure and charging needs at vehicle depots in addition to offering Fleet-as-a-Service and financing alternatives to streamline their purchasing, maintenance, and operating experience,” said Gio Sordoni, Xos’ Co-Founder and COO.
Note that this is not the first FedEx is getting into electric vehicles. In fact, it got an electric truck from Smith Electric Vehicles way back in 2012! (Editor’s update, Smith is still going strong) In that same year, FedEx got to work testing the Nissan e-NV200 over in the Yokohama area of Japan. Apparently not thrilled with those options back in the super early days of the modern EV market, we didn’t have much other EV news from FedEx to write about for some years, but in 2018 it reportedly ordered 20 Tesla Semi trucks. (Yes, we are still eagerly waiting for that truck to get to market, some 3 years later. Maybe in 2022?) To be frank, this Xos electric truck news seems to be the biggest EV news we’ve ever seen from FedEx. Will these 35 FedEx operators enjoy and appreciate the Xos electric trucks, and will the battery capacity and charging patterns work for their delivery needs? I have to believe that we are in a year when the technology is ripe and the trucks are more than capable to match fossil fuel vehicles in some ways and beat them in others. Hopefully we’ll see double or triple the order in a year or so. And perhaps FedEx will start receiving Tesla Semi trucks in a year or so as well. Could 2022 be the year of booming electric delivery vehicle sales?
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