That was a busy year for NACFE. In 2023, we published several reports, completed Run on Less Electric—DEPOT, and got invited to the White House. (Check out our December Newsletter for more details.)
And while we took some time off this holiday season to rest and recharge, we are now hard at work at the start of 2024. There is already a fairly full calendar of industry events NACFE staff will attend in the first quarter of the year. And I am sure our calendar will get quite crowded with events as the year progresses. We think that is a good thing. Last year, we gave presentations or held workshops at more than 120 industry events and attended many other events. We learned something new at every one of those events.
Of course, we have several reports planned, including one on natural gas, another on trailer refrigeration systems, and several analyzing findings from the Run.
One thing in the planning stages is a RoL-E DEPOT data workshop sometime in the first quarter of 2024. We plan to bring together people who have been analyzing data from the Run to collaboratively share the conclusions they reached. We are hoping we can use this to provide further guidance to fleets that are looking to electrify.
It’s also time for us to determine what NACFE’s future role should be. Think of it as NACFE 3.0. It does not seem that long ago that we launched NACFE 2.0, where we took our first steps into guiding emerging technologies and began publishing guidance reports on electric vehicles and blogs on autonomous trucking. But the reality is that these technologies are developing rapidly, and we want to ensure we are positioned to serve the trucking industry in the best way possible as those technologies continue to evolve and new technologies emerge.
See also: NACFE sets out to study how fleet depots are scaling up EV adoption
It would be great to hear from fleets, OEMs, suppliers—really anyone involved in the trucking industry—about how you see NACFE’s role in helping move into a cleaner freight future. Share your thoughts on what NACFE should do during the next 10 years.
While I am proud of what we accomplished this year and in the 13 years we’ve existed, I am really looking forward to where we are going.
Michael Roeth has worked in the commercial vehicle industry for nearly 30 years, most recently as executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE). He serves on the second National Academy of Sciences Committee on Technologies and Approaches for Reducing the Fuel Consumption of Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles and has held various positions in engineering, quality, sales, and plant management with Navistar and Behr/Cummins.
