When shopping for a cell phone, most everyone is familiar with going to Verizon, AT&T and other network-based retailers.
In addition to selling phones, these carriers also provide the critical cell phone coverage needed to stay connected around the globe. Most everyone understands that the low prices on a lot of these phones are driven by big revenue carriers stand to gain through network charges over a one or two-year contract.
So what about shopping for an electric truck or van through a utility that provides the critical juice needed to keep battery-powered zero-emission workhorses charged up and ready to go? Is it a good idea and will it possibly help drive down the prices of these zero-emission zeitgeists since utilities stand to make truckloads of money charging them?
While Southern California Edison isn’t exactly selling EVs, they’re certainly marketing them — which may be a sign of things to come for other utilities around the nation. And who can blame them? Mandated or otherwise, electric trucks and vans promise to pump up revenues faster than TVs and toasters.
The publicly traded SoCal Edison (NYSE: SCE-C), which is based near Los Angeles and serves 5,000 large businesses and 280,000 small businesses throughout 15 counties, recently revealed its EV Finder for fleets. The 88-page guide lists Class 2 – 8 electric trucks and vans (sorry, no pickups). Electric buses, including a double-decker, are also included.
SoCal Edison’s EV Finder features over 20 manufacturers, including Ford, Freightliner, Kenworth, Navistar, Peterbilt and Tesla which have their electric vehicles pictured along with helpful specs like range, battery storage capacity, charge time, cost and availability. Some of these, like the Tesla Semi, are test rigs and not available for sale just yet. Nonetheless, contact information is included so interested fleets can reach out directly to these manufacturers to learn more. Of note, Nikola Motor Company isn’t listed. I reached out to learn why, and was told that the “EV Finder tool is focused on vehicles that are in production or almost in production where the specs are established (kwh size, range, weight class, etc.”
While SoCal Edison isn’t selling these vehicles directly, they’re offering an enticing program for fleets in a state where OEMs must begin selling zero-emission commercial trucks and vans by 2024. Through its Charge Ready Transport program, qualifying fleets in California can have SoCal Edison design, build and install charging infrastructure at low to no cost. If preferred, fleets can install their own chargers and apply for a rebate.
