Three trucks with battery-electric refrigeration replace diesel units at City Harvest in Hunts Point, a neighbourhood that sees more than 15,000 truck trips a day
Hunts Point, in the South Bronx, is one of the busiest freight corridors in New York. Its Food Distribution Center handles around 12% of all the food distributed to the city, and the area sees more than 15,000 truck trips on an average workday. It also sits in the borough with the city’s highest rates of poverty and food insecurity.
That combination makes it a telling place for electric trucks. On 24 September, Volvo Trucks North America and the Bronx Is Breathing project team handed three Volvo VNR Electric trucks to City Harvest, New York’s largest food rescue organisation, at the Fulton Fish Market Cooperative.
Zero tailpipe emissions, including the fridge
The trucks replace three diesel vehicles. Each has a battery-electric transport refrigeration unit, so both driving and cooling run without tailpipe emissions. City Harvest will use them to collect surplus food from grocers, farms, manufacturers and restaurants and deliver it to pantries, soup kitchens and its Mobile Markets across the five boroughs. They will support a 25% increase in the food City Harvest provides to the Bronx this year.
“The Bronx Is Breathing project shows how targeted infrastructure investment and community partnerships can accelerate the adoption of electric trucks in dense urban freight environments,” said Keith Brandis, Head of Policy & Regulatory Affairs, North America, at Volvo Group’s Trucks Technology & Industrial Division.
Charging and funding
The trucks will first charge at a new installation at the Fulton Fish Market Cooperative. Later, charging will move to a freight-focused public hub that MN8 Energy is developing in the Food Distribution Center, with 32 DC fast chargers including stalls for Class 8 trucks, plus 10 Level 2 chargers, due to open in 2029.
The trucks are funded through a $10 million award from the New York Clean Transportation Prizes programme, run by NYSERDA with the state’s Department of Public Service and Department of Environmental Conservation. Local service comes from Milea Truck Sales, a Volvo Trucks Certified Electric Vehicle dealership.
For fleet operators, the project is a reminder that urban electrification is as much about charging sites, funding and dealer support as about the truck itself.
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