At-home delivery services, which have been on the rise for years, are experiencing a sharp increase in demand driven by recent events. In the past weeks, grocery delivery apps have seen a record number of downloads, and Amazon announced it’s looking to hire 100,000 new workers. With millions of people stuck at home, these trucking and logistics workers are now more essential than ever. While the positive contribution the goods movement makes to society has never been greater, the negative impacts heavy-duty trucks have on the environment and driver health must not be neglected.

The commercial sector is already making moves to transition fleets in order to reach environmental goals with the eventual goal of decreasing total cost of ownership. Amazon, PepsiCo and Goodwill recently purchased EV fleets which lowers their greenhouse gas emissions. There are also a growing number of private-public partnerships pushing the industry to new levels of EV adoption. For example, the Volvo LIGHTS Project, that Greenlots is a key partner in facilitating, demonstrates the ability of heavy-duty electric trucks to reliably move freight, charge affordably and sustainably in high-demand areas — in this case, Southern California.

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