Freight Efficiency with NACFE‘s Mike Roeth & Friends

Bill Bliem, vice president of fleet services at NFI Industries, joins me on my 50^th podcast and talks about NFI operations, the little things you can do to improve fuel economy, how he got excited about electric vehicles, two big challenges he faces, the importance of building a good team and why you need to identify and fix things that take you away from the goals you have achieved.

Ep. 49: Sam Spofforth, Clean Cities Project Lead at NREL, talks about what the Clean Cities Program is and how it facilitates connections so people can learn from each other, and about his passion around sustainability, the environment and energy. He shares his thoughts on EVs and what he calls no-brainer use cases for them as well as what some of the challenges to EV deployments are.

Britta Gross, managing director of the carbon free mobility work at RMI, talks about her interest in energy, electricity and the transportation industry. She also talks about the importance of 2030, the relationship between the automotive and aerospace industries, plug-in hybrids, why we need to remove the barriers that are preventing large scale adoption of EVs, the charging infrastructure and grid readiness.

Henry Albert, president of Albert Transport, talks about his passion for fuel economy, how he uses his experience as a race car driver to excel at fuel mileage in his truck, the importance of aerodynamics, his experience in Run on Less 2017, how he manages speed and his work on Team Run Smart.

Rob Graff, senior advisor to RMI and NACFE, talks about how his passion for the environment started back in first grade. He also talks about how the lessons he learned working on electric buses can translate to commercial vehicles, the importance of working on all parts of electrification not just the vehicle itself, the importance of understanding what the customer wants and designing solutions today that can avoid problems in the future.

Gina Lopez, a vice president at Kalmar, shares the history of Kalmar, how she got into trucking, the various uses for terminal tractors and the efficiency of using them to move trailers. She also talks about the new generation of Kalmar terminal tractors, why the electrification of terminal tractors makes sense, and about the journey to automate terminal tractors.

Paul Rosa, senior vice president of procurement and fleet planning at Penske, talks about the role of collaboration in EV development, Penske’s role in educating the market about current and emerging technologies, all the variables that must go into an EV ROI calculation, the importance of the driver, the uncertainty around residual value of EVs and the need for the industry to gain knowledge about EVs and make plans for their deployment.

Tim Reeser, CEO and co-founder of Lightning eMotors, talks about the company’s history, how and why it pivoted from hybrid vehicles to electric vehicles, drivers’ role in the success of new technology, the efficiency of EVs, the importance of scaling the technology to make the TCO story work and what it will take to scale the technology.

George Miller, director of sales at BYD, talks about BYD’s relationship with Anheuser-Busch, their experience in Run on Less – Electric and what it is about beverage hauling that makes it a good fit for EVs. He also shares his thoughts on bi-directional charging, the need for standardization, the role of utilities in the successful deployment of EVs, the lessons the US and Canada can learn from China and the importance of battery recycling.

Rob Ulsh, vice president of dealer and international sales at Great Dane, talks about why trailers are more than boxes on wheels, dealing with the ups and downs of trailer demand, new trailer designs, and how data and electrification are impacting trailer development. He also shares his thoughts on the role trailers will play in trucking in the future and on what he thinks people need to know about trailers.