Orange EV Launches Class 8 Electric Truck

Orange EV's all-new Class 8 pure-electric terminal truck. (Photo courtesy of Orange EV.)

Orange EV, a manufacturer of electrification solutions for industrial fleets, is now accepting orders for its all-new T-Series pure-electric terminal truck.

The new T-Series pure-electric truck has 24-plus hours of use per charge, and can be fully charged in as few as two hours.

In addition, fuel savings depending on moderate or heavy use can be from $10,000 per year, per vehicle up to $60,000 per year, per vehicle (using 2015 average diesel prices). A fleet of 20 vehicles, with moderate use, can save from $200,000 to $400,000 per year overall, according to Orange EV.

Orange EV's initial T-Series, a complete remanufacture of existing trucks, has been operating up to 24-plus hours per charge at sites from single-shift to 24x7 in railroad intermodal, LTL freight, manufacturing, retail distribution, waste management, and warehouse container handling fleets.

By placing a $10,000 refundable deposit by Dec. 31, 2016, fleets lock in the price, receive production priority, and Orange EV's telematics service free of charge on trucks (the telematics service will be provided free of charge on all trucks ordered by March 31, 2017.)

“With the addition of the new truck and rise in overall order volume, production capacity is at a premium,” said Wayne Mathisen, CEO at Orange EV. “Fleets have been telling us for two years that they want a new truck option. Now they can get it in the same industry-leading chassis they already know and rely on. Orange EV's Priority Program will help us gauge the demand and allocate resources while rewarding fleets that help us plan ahead.”

Fleets in the Priority Program place $10,000 refundable deposits and enjoy:

• Price stability through year-end budgeting.
• Installation and remote access for Orange EV's FIMS service, free of charge for five years.
• Live user training and initial Fleet Information Management System (FIMS) user reports. The FIMS telematics service provides real-time information on truck performance.

Orange EV will continue taking orders as fleets are ready. Each month, the company will query program participants in sequence for their orders to help new fleets begin the process while ensuring ready units begin their deployments as soon as possible.

Financing, incentives, carbon credits, and other programs provide fleets additional assistance and incentives to accelerate deployment of Orange EV's pure electric terminal trucks. Traditional equipment financing helps reduce initial cash outlay and fund the balance of purchase from cost savings. Federal and regional programs exist to further reduce purchase price and spur adoption.

According to the company, Orange EV has consistently been the first OEM approved for and delivering commercially available terminal trucks under incentive programs that can pay more than half of vehicle purchase price. Carbon credits on the emissions eliminated by Orange EV electric vehicles can generate even more savings.

“Even without incentive programs, the total cost of ownership for Orange EV's electric vehicles is often less than what many fleets spend to purchase and operate their diesel trucks,” according to Mike Saxton chief commercial officer at Orange EV. “The incentives help fleets invest in their initial vehicles, but it's the per truck savings of up to $60,000 annually that will drive fleet-wide adoption."

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Cass Freight Index: Shipments, Freight Spending Continue Declines

Overall shipment volumes and pricing are persistently weak, with increased levels of volatility as all levels of the supply chain continue to try to work down inventory levels, according to the Cass Freight Index report for July.

This measure of activity in all domestic freight modes shows there have been a few areas of growth, mostly related to e-commerce, with lower levels of expansion in modes serving the auto and housing/construction industries.

All of this added up to slightly lower shipment volume in July, down 2.6% from a year ago and the 17th straight month of year-over-year declines. There was virtually no change in July from the month before, but the reading of 1.111 is the highest since September 2015.

What specifically drove July's decline in volume? According to Donald Broughton, senior transportation analyst at the investment firm Avondale Partners, who provides analysis of the figures, July year-over-year overall traffic for major U.S. railroads declined 6.1%, as intermodal units fell 5.4% and commodity carloads originated declined 6.9%.

As for trucking, he said tonnage itself appears to be growing, with the three-month moving average increasing 2.75% (not seasonally adjusted). However, he notes truck loads have contracted on a year-over year basis three out of six months in 2016.

“No matter how it is measured, the data coming out of the trucking industry has been both volatile and uninspiring,” Broughton said. He also noted the trucking industry provides one of the more reliable reads on the pulse of the domestic economy – and how it's changing.

“It gives us clues about the health of both the manufacturing and retail sectors,” he said. “We should note that as the first industrial-led recovery (2009-2014) since 1961 came to an end, and the shift from ‘brick and mortar' retailing to e-commerce/omni-channel continues, we are becoming more focused on the number of loads moved by truck and less focused on the number of tons moved by truck.”

When it comes to freight expenditures, the Cass Freight Index shows a July drop of 0.6% from the month before. It's also down 5.5% from a year earlier, with the measure registering 2.355, its 17th straight month of year-over-year declines. Expenditures are being pushed lower by a number of factors, according to Broughton.

“In part, this weakness is driven by the excess of capacity in most modes: trucking, rail, air freight, barge, ocean container and bulk. The weakness is also driven in part by the ongoing decline in diesel and jet fuel and corresponding fuel surcharges that influence pricing realized by shippers,” he said. “Although at first blush it appears that in most modes the gap between spot pricing and contract pricing appears to be closing slightly, this is more a function of slight declines in contract pricing than it is a function of improvements in spot pricing.”

Broughton sees little reason to predict a change in course or material strength in either the contract or spot rates for most modes. Exceptions to this do remain in the parcel marketplace and forms of expedited transit supporting e-commerce.

You can read the full report on the Cass Information Systems' website.

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Fleet Advantage appoints Griffin as COO

Fleet Advantage announced it has expanded the role of Jim Griffin, who will now serve in the capacity of both chief technology officer and chief operating officer. In this extended role, Griffin will focus his efforts on streamlining current processes and implementing data-centric measures, the company said.

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Boise to manage legal affairs at Meritor

Meritor announced that April Miller Boise has joined the company as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, effective immediately.

"April's impressive background in corporate law will be a great asset to Meritor," said Jay Craig, CEO and president. "We are very happy she has decided to join us as the next step in her career."

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Trailer orders down, Class 8 bloat expands

The supply of Class 8 trucks increased far faster than demand for the fifth time this year, according data tracked by ACT Research Co., while trailer orders dropped 25% from June to July and are now at less than half the amount reported at the same time in 2015.

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Fuel prices down, but gasoline more mixed for the week

While the national average retail pump price for diesel and gasoline remained on a downward track this week, Energy Information Administration (EIA) data showed price declines for both fuels overall were very small, with a wide swath of modest regional increases and decreases for gasoline.

The national average retail pump price for diesel dropped 6/10ths of a penny to $2.310 per gallon this week, according to EIA, which is 30.5 cents per gallon cheaper compared to the same week in 2015.

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Weekly Diesel Prices Show Little Change

Source: EIA

The price of diesel fuel in the U.S. was essentially flat last week, falling less than a cent, according to the latest numbers from the Energy Department.

The average price of on-highway diesel fuel fell by 0.6 cents last week, settling at $2.31 per gallon. While the gap is closing, the price is more than 30 cents cheaper than it was in the same week a year ago.

Prices were relatively flat in all major regions of the U.S., with the most significant drop coming to the West Coast at 1.2 cents per gallon. The smallest change was in the Midwest, where diesel prices decreased by only 0.2 cents.

The average price of regular gasoline was also basically unchanged from the previous week, falling 0.1 cents to $2.149 per gallon. The average price is nearly 57 cents cheaper than it was in the same week of 2015.

The largest decrease in gas prices was on the West Coast, where the price dropped by 3.9 cents. The largest increase in prices was in the Lower Atlantic region where gasoline jumped 2.5 cents for the week.

Crude oil prices seem to be turning around, hitting some monthly highs as several OPEC member countries have indicated that they may finally reduce production to counteract lower global demand, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Crude oil prices had been dropping, attributed to OPEC inaction to curb high production levels despite the fact that demand in large markets like China has been low. However, analysts have been speculating that OPEC may finally adjust production levels. The Saudi Arabia energy minister indicated last week that his country could finally back an effort to adjust, according to the report.

Related: Fuel Economy at Any Size

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