Monday, February 26th, 2018

Going Green: CanLift Orders All-electric Tesla Semi Trucks

Following in the footsteps of retail giants like Loblaw, Pepsi, Walmart and UPS, Canadian equipment rental and sales company CanLift Equipment has ordered two all-electric semi trucks from Tesla as part of an eco-friendly effort to move its fleet of delivery trucks to low-emissions vehicles.

“[This move is] part of our commitment to reduce our carbon footprint and electrify our fleet,” CanLift Managing Partner Johnny Dragicevic said.

CanLift has always been an early-adopter of new technologies and is believed to be the first equipment rental company in Canada to transition to all-electric delivery trucks.

“CanLift continues to be a leader in the AWP [aerial work platform] rental industry when it comes to technology innovation. Deploying the high-tech Tesla Semis will help us to continue on that path while benefiting from considerable fuel savings.”

The Tesla Semi is a Class 8 truck, which has a range of of 800 kilometres at maximum weight and highway speed. It can recharge the battery enough in 30 minutes to go 640 kilometres, according to Tesla officials. That compares to diesel trucks capable of travelling up to 1,600 km on a single tank.

Tesla also says the rig can go from 0-100 km/h in five seconds flat without a trailer, compared to around 15 seconds for a comparable diesel truck.

“Overall, the Tesla Semi is more responsive, covers more miles than a diesel truck in the same amount of time, and more safely integrates with passenger car traffic,” an official said on the company’s website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nONx_dgr55I

Tesla unveils its new electric semi tractor-trailer near its design center in Hawthorne, California. CEO Elon Musk said the truck is capable of traveling 800 kilometres on an electric charge with a full 80,000-pound load.

CanLift believes that the fuel savings will cover the initial capital investment for the Tesla semis over the course of about three years. Tesla says that one of its fully loaded Semis consumes less than two kilowatt-hours of energy per mile. That could save truck owners at least $200,000 USD in fuel costs over 1.6 million km.