We’re Charging Ahead With Our First Electric Vehicle Test Run
Electric cargo vans have officially hit the market, and Ridwell is working fast to get on the sustainable emissions bandwagon. The goal: convert most of our cargo van fleet to fully electric vehicles by 2028.
Why 5 years out? We’ll explain.
“It’s not a matter of ‘if’ we’re doing it, it’s just a matter of figuring out how,” said Justin Gough, Ridwell co-founder and head of fleet operations. “There’s a lot of testing and infrastructure building we have to do first.”
Ridwell has been waiting for electric vehicles to become more widely available since the promise of EVs came out. And we’ve heard from dozens of members who want to see this possibility become a reality. As soon as the option became available, we put the pedal to the medal on it.
After securing a vendor partnership with Zeeba, a national fleet leasing company, we received our first tester van in March. We installed charging infrastructure and sent the van out on live Ridwell routes on March 31st. Our drivers were thrilled.
“The new van drove like a dream,” said driver Sarah. “Smooth, easy and quiet. It felt great to know we’d made zero compromises in terms of driving performance while taking another step toward doing good things for the planet in our operations.”
First we test. Then we roll out.
All this month we’ll continue testing out our EV around Seattle. Here’s what we looking for:
1) Battery capacity. How much of our regular pickup routes the EV can manage with its current battery capacity? How much will that change as battery technology improves?
2) Charging times. How do we account for and incorporate charging time necessary for our delivery vehicle so as to not delay service pickups and or disrupt our scheduling system?
3) Infrastructure investment. Lastly, what’s the infrastructure investment needed to make it all possible? From updating the fleet to installing charging infrastructure in all of our warehouses across markets, the transition to electric is no small feat.
Additionally, supply chain constraints stemming from the pandemic have created a slowdown in new battery technology needed for some of these vehicles to operate optimally. While there’s a lot we still need to figure out, Ridwell is committed to making this transition. Once we have the kinks worked out, we’ll charge ahead with transitioning our fleet.
“We would love to move as quickly as possible on making the leap to electric,” said Gough. “It’s not the easiest process, but it’s the right one—and that’s what we’re in it for.”
Know someone who would like to support our transition to EV?
Give a free trial to a friend!
And, if they redeem their trial this month, we’ll donate $10 to a land conservation organization in their area and bring our Earth Month exclusive sticker to your bin in May!
Not a Ridwell member?
Join this April and we’ll donate $10 to a non-profit dedicated to land conservation in your area.
Ridwell will donate $10 to a land conservation organization for each member who (a) joins using the link on this page or (b) joins via a member referral through 4/30/2023. Referred members who join with a free trial are eligible for this offer. Not a sticker person? No problem - we’ll ask before delivering your sticker.
