Einride, a Swedish truck technology startup best known for its cabless autonomous vehicles, announced today that it will be partnering with Oatly, the popular Swedish oat drink company, on a truck electrification project.
The partnership, to launch in Sweden during the fall of 2020, will make Oatly one of only a few global brands to electrify transportation on commercial routes.
As part of the collaboration Oatly will install Einride’s new freight mobility platform, a software platform that tracks shipments, miles traveled, carbon emissions and other key metrics.
That platform is currently in beta testing with multiple customers, an Einride spokesperson told FreightWaves.
Founded in 2016, Einride has carved out a niche in the autonomous trucking sector with its sleek “T-Pod” trucks that use electric propulsion and don’t have a cab or driver. There is a human backup: a remote driver who can take control of the vehicle when necessary. The pods have a battery capacity of 200 kWh and can haul freight for 124 miles on a full charge.
The company is planning an expansion to the U.S. this year, and recently announced plans to hire its first remote truck drivers.
The Einride-Oatly partnership does not involve the Pods, and the startup is not manufacturing the vehicles in-house. Instead, Einride is working with equipment and vehicle manufacturers in Europe to supply electric vehicles to Oatly (and other customers) with telematics that are designed to integrate with the freight mobility platform, the spokesperson said.
Oatly will use the trucks to carry products from its production facilities in Sweden to warehouses and other locations.
Electrical transportation is “a key part” of our supply chain strategy globally and “on these routes, we will be reducing our carbon footprint by 87%,” Simon Broadbent, Oatly’s supply chain director, said in a press statement. “So naturally we are super-excited at exploring this new opportunity with Einride.”
Although the freight mobility platform and the Pod are separate projects, they are integrated in “their purpose and functionality,” the Einride spokesperson said.
In the near future, Pods will be monitored and managed through the platform, which helps businesses manage shipments in real-time, tracking shipping volume, miles driven and associated emissions to reduce costs and carbon impacts.
“Both projects are key to our vision for a future of freight transport that is fully digitized, electric and autonomous,” the spokesperson said.