By the end of 2012, California will be home to 105 all-electric Frito-Lay delivery trucks, the company’s largest deployment of zero-emission trucks in any state. The new electric trucks will operate from distribution centers located throughout California: Alameda, City of Industry, La Mirada, Manteca, San Diego, San Jose and Torrance. The announcement was made at a high-profile event at the company’s Torrance Distribution Center, where company execs were applauded for their leadership by California Gov. Jerry Brown and MSRC Chair Greg Winterbottom. Both MSRC and the State of California provided funding support for Frito-Lay’s vehicle purchases.
Leslie Star Keating, Frito-Lay's Senior Vice President for Supply Chain Management, noted that electric trucks reduce fuel consumption, noise pollution and CO2 emissions, compared to traditional delivery trucks. The initial rollout of all-electric trucks in California already has saved the company an estimated 50,000 gallons of fuel and reduced about 1 million pounds of greenhouse gases. When all 105 trucks are deployed by the end of this year, Frito-Lay expects to save 200,000 gallons of fuel and eliminate nearly 4.5 million pounds of greenhouse gases annually in the state of California. She said the company plans to transition about 20 percent of its California fleet to electricity, and credited their collaboration with Clean Transportation Funding from the MSRC for providing the momentum for companies like Frito-Lay to make the investment to switch to clean vehicles.
MSRC’s Winterbottom hopes to see more companies follow Frito-Lay’s lead. “Frito-Lay’s investment in cleaner, more sustainable transportation serves as an excellent example of a major U.S. corporation making a significant public commitment to the reduction of greenhouse gases and reduced energy consumption,” he said. CalEPA Secretary Matt Rodriguez also was on hand for the event to help celebrate the achievement, and even took a test drive in one of the trucks.
In the U.S., Frito-Lay hopes to reduce its total fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2020, compared to 2007 baseline. This effort supports PepsiCo’s commitments to environmental sustainability, particularly in fuel and greenhouse gas reduction. Across PepsiCo, in addition to electric trucks, the company has introduced 267 hybrid electric trucks and 67 compressed natural gas (CNG) tractors; 176 hybrid electric vehicles and14 CNG tractors are scheduled to operate in California.
The press event received broad statewide and national coverage resulting in over 65 million media impressions including stories which ran on the CBS, ABC, Fox affiliates, AP, LA Times, Torque News, MSN.com, and Yahoo! News.
