Mexico City-based Grupo Bimbo recently incorporated 100 electric trucks and 41 hybrid vehicles into its domestic delivery fleet.
Grupo Bimbo is the world’s largest baking company, with more than 100 locations in 17 countries across North, Central and South America, as well as Asia.
“If we want a better world, companies have to act and bank on actions that are respectful of the environment,” Javier González-Franco, executive vice president of Grupo Bimbo, said in a statement. “At Grupo Bimbo, we are currently running many sustainable initiatives. But our electric vehicle initiative is particularly relevant, because it was designed by Mexican engineers.”
Moldex, a subsidiary of Grupo Bimbo, designed and manufactured the new electric trucks. Moldex’s plant is in the Mexico City suburb of Lerma, where company engineers have been working on the electric truck project since 2012.
Moldex will be responsible for providing 1,000 units per year over four years, the company said.
José María-Aguilar, CEO of Moldex, said Grupo Bimbo has invested $146 million in its electric truck initiative. The goal is to add 4,000 more electric vehicles by the end of 2024, he said.
“These are the new generation of trucks, which have lithium batteries for greater load capacity and speed,” María-Aguilar said in a statement. “We have the ability to assemble up to 3,000 units per year, but we will make 1,000.”
With the addition of the electric trucks, Grupo Bimbo has around 500 electric-powered trucks making emissions-free deliveries in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey, the company said.
The trucks are capable of operating six to eight hours when fully charged. For now, Bimbo officials said, there are no plans to add electric cargo vehicles to routes in the United States.
Grupo Bimbo also recently added 41 Toyota hybrid vehicles to replace part of its monitoring fleet in Mexico City, representing an investment of about $700,500.
The electric distribution trucks will be wind-powered, with their batteries recharging on clean energy generated by Grupo Bimbo’s Piedra Larga wind farm in Oaxaca, Mexico, company officials said.
Grupo Bimbo was founded in 1945 and is the maker of Entenmann’s line of baked goods, Thomas’ English Muffins, Mrs. Baird’s breads, the Sara Lee brand (which Grupo Bimbo purchased in 2011), Boboli, Brownberry, Freihofer’s and Nature’s Harvest bread, among others.