(Photo: An all-electric Mitsubishi Fuso eCanter delivery truck. Credit: Mitsubishi)A fleet of nine all-electric zero-emission delivery trucks rolled out in the Bronx this week. The Mitsubishi Fuso eCanter trucks will serve several New York City nonprofits through a program funded by a settlement with American Electric Power over Clean Air Act violations.
New York Attorney General Letitia James unveiled the new fleet Wednesday and called the program “the first of its kind.” Six nonprofit organizations chosen through a competitive application process are receiving funds from the $9.5 million settlement with AEP to lease one or two of the trucks for two years. The program also covers charging infrastructure, according to James’ office.
Big Reuse, GrowNYC, Habitat for Humanity New York City, New York Botanical Garden, Sustainable South Bronx, and the Wildlife Conservation Society get to use some of the world’s first battery-powered delivery trucks to support their operations, James said.
“The dirty diesel trucks that crowd our streets are a major source of our city’s worst local air pollution and greatly contribute to climate change,” she said. “Zero-emission, all-electric trucks are the future of New York City’s truck fleet.”
James negotiated two-year leases for the fleet with commercial truck dealer Milea Truck, Alex Mitchell reported in the Bronx Times. The big hauls are currently only available through special leases with environmentally conscious nonprofits, according to the paper.
During the two-year lease period, the attorney general’s office plans to study the electric trucks’ performance and utility, Mitchell wrote. Mitsubishi describes the Fuso eCanter as completely silent and emission-free with a state-of-the-art modular HV battery pack and permanent synchronous e-motor.
“It has been a dream for Big Reuse to have zero emission truck to carry out our mission of achieving zero waste,” said Justin Green, executive director of the Brooklyn-based nonprofit Big Reuse for salvaged and surplus building materials. “The e-trucks are more cost effective, quieter and all around better to drive than a diesel truck — in addition to not emitting exhaust into our neighborhoods.”
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