Through a first-of-its-kind collaboration, Ferguson, North America’s leading distributor of plumbing and HVAC supplies, Holman, a global automotive services organization, and Electrada, an electric fuel solutions company, announce a fleet electrification pilot. This effort delivers a fleet management and electrification solution enabling Ferguson to deploy all-electric vehicles throughout California. This is possible through streamlining the development of the necessary charging and energy management infrastructure.
“This electrification project supports Ferguson’s overall corporate sustainability strategy to reduce our carbon footprint, and through our position in the value chain, help build a better world,” explains Denise Vaughn, Ferguson’s vice president of environmental, social and governance (ESG). “Fleet emissions account for a sizable portion of our Scope 1 emissions, and future reductions require an accelerated conversion from medium- and heavy-duty fleet to electric vehicles. Electrada’s comprehensive solution positions us to gain rich learnings from this program and expand with scale as technology progresses.”
This electrification program aligns with Ferguson’s overall corporate sustainability strategy; the company committed to sustainable transportation and reducing its fleet’s carbon footprint. Ferguson will add 30 Class 6 to 8 electric trucks from Peterbilt and Freightliner in the months ahead. This EV fleet integration highlights the scope of this phase. The project also includes charging infrastructure from Electrada to serve five depot locations across the company’s operating footprint in California.
COLLABORATING TO ACHIEVE GOALS
Key to this electrification project is Holman and Electrada’s innovative strategic partnership. The partnership helps North American fleet operators accelerate, scale, and seamlessly integrate electric vehicles into their fleet mix. This collaboration with Ferguson is the first to leverage Holman as well as Electrada’s holistic electrification-as-a-service model. As a result, the collaboration provides inclusive fleet management services along with electric fuel and infrastructure development. This significantly streamlines fleet electrification and allows organizations to scale their electrification programs expeditiously.
Emily Graham, director of sustainability, Holman, says fleets’ EV discussions have moved from which model fits best to determining how to integrate them into the fleet. “Today, stakeholders from across an organization … are all involved in the process,” Graham says. She says Holman’s conversations with its EV-focused customers ensure all parties are aligned with the goals of the initiative. “Throughout this collaborative effort with Ferguson, their intent was clear and it quickly became apparent that our partnership with Electrada could help them accelerate their goals,” Graham says.
ELIMINATING CONVERSION RISKS
Together, Holman and Electrada offer fleet operators a fully capitalized (vehicle and charging infrastructure) fleet management and performance-guaranteed electrification solution. This solution will also allow other organizations to simplify their transition to electric vehicles. This approach to electrification provides a predictably priced contract that eliminates significant upfront capital investment and long-term energy cost risks; these factors are what often prevent organizations from adopting a robust EV program altogether.
“Electrada couldn’t be more thrilled to work with a company as forward-thinking about sustainable transportation as Ferguson. We’re making a long-term program investment commitment, providing and operating all of the infrastructure, while eliminating the fuel price and operational risk of Ferguson’s historic fleet transformation effort because that’s the core of what we do, that’s the essence of 360 Charging-as-a-Service,” said Kevin Kushman, CEO, Electrada. “We developed a deep understanding of Ferguson’s electrification needs based on their location-specific, real-world use cases. The solution not only provides the reliable electric fuel infrastructure that Ferguson needs to successfully accomplish their fleet electrification goals but will also reduce fuel cost per mile from day one versus fossil fuel.”
Construction of the depot-charging infrastructure is underway. Ferguson anticipates taking delivery of the initial all-electric trucks before the end of the year.
Find out more, visit www.fergusonplc.com, www.holman.com, and www.electrada.com.
