Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) and Volvo Trucks North America (VTNA) have joined hands with the authorities in California in an effort dubbed “Joint Electric Truck Scaling Initiative (JETSI)” to deploy 100 battery-electric regional haul and drayage trucks across the state. This marks the largest commercial deployment of battery-electric trucks in North America to date.

The trucks will be deployed in partnership with supply chain and logistics solution providers NFI Industries and Schneider.

DTNA will deliver 50 Freightliner eCascadia class 8 battery-electric trucks to Schneider, and 30 units of the same to NFI, beginning in 2022. VTNA will deliver 30 VNR Electric class 8 trucks to NFI.

DTNA and VTNA are well-established commercial vehicle manufacturers with a strong presence in the truck tech space. Daimler develops battery-electric trucks, named “eCascadia” and “eM2,” which were made available for preorder in April 2021, with production set to begin in late 2022. Volvo Trucks develops a range of battery-electric heavy-duty “Volvo FL Electric,” “Volvo FE Electric,” “Volvo FH”, “Volvo FM,” and “Volvo FMX” trucks, with plans to start mass production in 2022.