Long before she joined a company developing zero-emissions trucks, oil featured prominently in Elizabeth Fretheim’s life. She lived in six countries by the age of seven because of her father’s work in the industry.
But Fretheim had a realization 15 years ago while working on a project to design and build a workforce hotel in the oil sands of northern Alberta, Canada. She saw the massive tailings ponds left behind from the extraction process. “I was crushed,” she said.
“I had been eating at the energy buffet and needed to get back to the French restaurant,” Fretheim said. “I changed what I wanted to do.”
Fretheim later joined Walmart as senior director of supply chain sustainability. She was tasked with doubling fleet efficiency.
“We were able to achieve it in about 10 years. Proving that sustainability could make business sense, we saved the company about $1 billion a year,” Fretheim said.
“I believe we are building trucks that will compete with diesel,” Fretheim said.
In a conversation with John Paul Hampstead, associate editor of FreightWaves, Fretheim noted that interest in Nikola trucks extends from large fleets to owner-operators.
“They really want to understand this technology,” Fretheim said.
Fretheim also explained that Nikola opted to launch hydrogen fuel cell models before electric to serve fleets that conduct long hauls or need to do quick turnarounds.
“I don’t want to say one is better than the other,” she said.
Nikola is working on building a network of 700 hydrogen fueling stations that will cover the United States and Canada during the next decade, starting in California. The placement of those stations will depend on the needs of fleets, Fretheim said.
“We need to do this in a structured and strategic way, so we’re going to be working with our customers, and really grow with them as we look at where these stations will be,” Fretheim said.
Although new guidance on mask wearing returns the industry to some semblance of normalcy after over a year of lockdowns and restrictions, employers should remain cautious in revising policies.
While Texans are accustomed to living life free of excessive state-level taxes, they were in for a shock when their own U.S. Senator, Republican John Cornyn, used his national platform to advocate for the establishment of a truck-only vehicle miles traveled tax.
As we discuss ways to improve the sales relationship between carrier and shipper, the term “commodity” always comes up. Most carriers feel being a commodity diminishes the services they provide. It doesn’t have to be that way.
The nation’s top trucking research group plans to update previous studies on the effects of legalized marijuana and other drugs on truck safety along with integrating 18- to 20-year-old drivers into the industry.
Throughout the entire 90-year history of trucking in the United States, excessive detention has been a scourge on the industry. An upcoming 90-minute immersive workshop will share tools and strategies to combat this issue and keep the wheels moving and profitable.
While a request for Supreme Court review of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision to overturn an injunction banning enforcement of California’s AB5 will almost certainly follow, at this time, motor carriers who operate in California must be prepared to act in accordance with AB5.
The word “safety” is everywhere in the trucking industry. It is talked about nearly every day in the press, Congress has zeroed in on it, and most carriers will say that it is their top priority. With all this attention, it’s easy to believe that safety has become cliché. But it’s not.
A day after Colonial Pipeline said there was light at the end of the tunnel for the line’s closure due to a cyberattack, the impact of the shutdown on the ground is being felt.
Truck drivers and fleets have two months to prepare for the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) annual Operation Safe Driver Week, which is set for July 11-17. Here is what inspectors will be looking for.