Schneider hauls first battery-powered truck load for Frito-Lay North America

Transportation provider Schneider has hauled its first battery electric vehicle (BEV) delivery for customer Frito-Lay North America (FLNA) and says it will have 92 Freightliner eCascadia trucks in its southern California intermodal operations by the end of 2023, forming what it calls one of North America's largest battery electric fleets.

The initial BEV routes for FLNA are expected to produce an emissions reduction of more than 70% this year, versus the same shipments on diesel trucks, which is equivalent to eliminating more than 180,000 miles driven by gasoline-powered passenger vehicles from the road, according to Wisconsin-based Schneider, a multimodal provider of transportation, intermodal, and logistics services.

Initial shipments on Schneider's growing Freightliner eCascadia fleet will be intermodal inbound and outbound dray moves in southern California, including service to Frito-Lay's Rancho Cucamonga distribution center. 

Schneider says that BEVs are a crucial component in its efforts to reach its sustainability goals of reducing CO2 per-mile emissions by 7.5% by 2025 and 60% by 2035. Schneider has already achieved more than half of its 2025 goal by reducing per-mile emissions by 5%, the company says.

This was also the first third-party BEV shipment for PepsiCo globally. "Today's milestone shipment underscores the importance of cross-industry collaboration in building a more sustainable food system and achieving Frito-Lay and PepsiCo Positive's goal of net-zero emissions by 2040," PepsiCo Foods North America Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer David Allen said in a release. "As a company with massive scale, Frito-Lay looks for opportunities to create positive change – but we can't do it alone. By working with Schneider, we are taking an important step forward in our efforts to reduce value chain emissions and move our snack products in a more sustainable way."