EVwire brief: IMC Logistics, the country's largest marine drayage operator, is adding 50 Tesla Semi electric trucks to its California operations. The orders are split between standard-range variants for local port drayage and long-range Tesla Semis for hauls between Southern California and inland destinations.
It's the latest build-out of IMC's multi-technology fleet, which already runs battery-electric, hydrogen fuel-cell, and renewable-diesel trucks side by side depending on the route. The company put one of its new Semis on display this week at the Intermodal EXPO in Long Beach.
IMC frames the deployment as part of a blended approac to sustainable drayage rather than a bet on a single technology, choosing whichever zero- or lower-emission option fits a given route and customer's needs.
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IMC’s Tesla Semi on display.
Jim Gillis, President of IMC's Pacific Region, said the company wants to make lower-emission trucking practical for its everyday operations:
We are focused on making sustainability attainable in day-to-day drayage operations. That means taking a blended approach rather than relying on a single technology. The addition of 50 Tesla Semis strengthens that strategy as well as allows IMC to establish zero-emission service for long haul.
This isn't IMC's first time behind the wheel of a Tesla Semi. Back in March, IMC drivers completed an early trial of the truck. One IMC driver, Dakota Shearer, described getting stuck on a tight bend near Sparks, Nevada with his 40-foot trailer on his first drive, but found the truck's center-seat cab position and surrounding camera screens eliminated blind spots he'd normally have to step outside to check.
That right there showed me that the technology the Tesla has makes a big difference.
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Context:
IMC's order also joins a busy few weeks of Tesla Semi fleet news. Earlier this month, Google partnered with Nevoya and GMA to put 25 electric semi trucks on the Houston-Dallas freight corridor, and back in July, ATC Logistics and QX Logistix each ordered 20 Tesla Semis to run out of Forum Mobility's Rancho Dominguez depot.
That same depot got a lot more visible just yesterday, when Forum Mobility disclosed it has now contracted fleet offtake for more than 330 Tesla Semis at Rancho Dominguez alone, as part of a wider 30-megawatt charging expansion across four new California depots where Tesla itself runs the public Megacharging hardware.
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