A battery-electric powered Anheuser-Busch truck delivers beverages to the Enterprise Center in St. … [+]
Tesla fans, prepare to be disappointed even more than by the reveal of the EV manufacturer’s truck. Yesterday Anheuser-Busch sent its first zero-emissions delivery of beer to the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Mo., and hydrogen-powered trucks were involved.
There is a something of a mild war between Tesla and the rest of the world when it comes to the debate on the future of vehicle propulsion technology. Although there are multiple power sources available on the market today–including natural gas, diesel, hydrogen, and petroleum gasoline–some automotive industry leaders feel that there should only be one: battery-electric.
Most large and intermediate-sized automotive manufacturers disagree with this narrow position, and are exploring multiple alternative-fuel systems, including fuel-cell technology. Hydrogen is more efficient for powering large vehicles, such as full-size SUVs and trucks, for long distances while carrying heavy payloads. Batteries are large, heavy, and expensive, and quickly reach a point of diminishing returns as vehicle size and weight increases, which is why many transportation giants are placing heavy bets on hydrogen technology and start-ups.
Last year Anheuser-Busch placed an order for up to 800 hydrogen-electric powered semi-trucks from the Phoenix, Az.-based Nikola Motor Company to make good on its plan to reduce its carbon emissions across their supply chain by 25% by 2025. These trucks can travel between 500 and 1,200 miles before a 20-minute refueling is required. But even when all of the 800 long-haul hydrogen-powered trucks are on the road, the new fleet will reduce the brewer’s logistics-related carbon footprint by only 18%.
Additional reductions will be found in part by working with battery-electric vehicle manufacturers, such as BYD. The beer producer will be deploying 21 electric BYD trucks powered by a 958.5 kW solar array in efforts to reduce emissions generated by its distribution centers in southern California.
It’s not an either-or solution when it comes to cutting emissions, and to demonstrate how the two technologies can work together on this mission, the beverage company used a Nikola hydrogen-electric truck to pick up a load of beer from its St. Louis distillery and deliver it to local wholesaler partner Lohr Distributors. The distributor used a battery-electric powered BYD truck to make the delivery to the Enterprise Center stadium, marking the first zero-emissions delivery for Anheuser-Busch.
And things are just getting started–these partnerships are being highlighted by the beverage producer during a sustainability-focused Eclipse Summit that it’s holding this week with 100 strategic suppliers and partners.
