Port of Vancouver Launches ELECTRA Electric Semi Pilot
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- ELECTRA launched in May at the Port of Vancouver with Simard Westlink deploying the first Peterbilt 579EV electric Class 8 semi on container-hauling drayage routes as the program's inaugural truck.
- The pilot offers 60-month subsidized leases to five shipping companies — Simard Westlink, Aheer Transportation, Lally Bros. Holding, TransBC Freight, and West Coast Freight — covering trucks, charging infrastructure, maintenance, technical support, and technician training.
- Combined funding totals roughly $3 million from Transport Canada, the Province of British Columbia, and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, with additional support from BC Hydro's EV Fleet Program.
- All five carriers will record operational data over the next year and share it with industry and government partners to inform future battery-electric Class 8 adoption decisions.
- 7Gen founder and CEO Frans Tjallingii — whose company leased the first electric Peterbilt to Simard Westlink — called drayage and medium-haul Class 8 the segments where "electrification has crossed the line from possible to practical."
- A similar Transport Canada data-sharing pilot last year tracked diesel- and battery-powered Class 8 trucks over 200,000 km on Montreal-area roads, finding electric fleets could save up to $160,000 per truck — the apples-to-apples comparison ELECTRA now aims to replicate for drayage.
Why it matters: The 60-month subsidized lease removes the two biggest adoption barriers for fleet operators — upfront truck and charger cost — while a year of shared first-mile drayage data could give regulators and carriers the real-world evidence needed to scale battery-electric Class 8 trucks beyond pilots, building on a prior Montreal study that showed $160,000-per-truck savings.
