WAWA PA – Wawa convenience stores currently host more Tesla-model superchargers for electric vehicles than any other retail chain in North America, it reported Thursday (Aug. 31, 2023). Now the company is introducing its first electrically powered truck for warehouse-to-store deliveries, it added.
Wawa Inc. has partnered with Penske Logistics in a six-month program to operate and test a battery-powered Freightliner eCascadia electric truck (at top). The vehicle is “the first electric truck used in Wawa’s history, and the very first Penske truck of this kind in the Philadelphia region,” the company said in a media release.
Wawa and Penske added they expect to “learn more about this emerging new technology” and “consider future application or expansion to (the company’s) delivery fleet.”
The company operates 19 stores locally in western Montgomery, eastern Berks, and northern Chester counties. The first stores to be served by the new truck, however, are likely to be located in New Jersey, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal. The truck may initially operate near a Penske service facility there, The Journal stated.
Jeff Jackson, Penske Logistics executive vice president of operations for dedicated contract carriage, said his firm offers “depth and breadth of experience in this area,” and was pleased to support sustainable deliveries in Wawa’s “fresh channel supply chain.”
The company told The Journal it would study the technology “for a potential widespread roll-out.” That would include determining “including the amount it would need to invest into development, implementation, and maintenance of the trucks.”
In the same release, Wawa said it had opened the 150th store across its operating area to offer charging for Teslas and other brands of electric vehicles.
Photo from a Wawa Facebook post
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