EcoLogic Blog

Midwest Coca-Cola Bottling Company rolled out 10 hybrid electric delivery trucks in Minneapolis – St. Paul last month. Full disclosure: Midwest Coca-Cola is a client of Tunheim Partners and we assisted with this event. This is the start of its plan to have 142 hybrid electric trucks throughout the United States and Canada by August.

The hybrid trucks work by combining diesel and electric power and converting braking energy into supplementary electrical power. The trucks also don’t emit any fumes when idling for unloading.

The trucks are the largest hybrid electric delivery trucks in North America. They produce 37 percent fewer emissions and use 32 percent less fuel than standard trucks. They’re even customized for the regular stopping and starting needed in urban areas.

Check out the pictures and media coverage of the event that included Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Coca-Cola Enterprise CEO John F. Brock unloading the first cases! 

Coca-Cola Enterprise CEO John Brock addressing the crowd.

Pulling out in one of the new trucks!

Minnesota Governor Pawlenty loading up his dolly.

Media coverage included: Finance and Commerce, Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, ThisWeek, MPR, WCCO and KSTP.

Perhaps you’ve seen the ads from wecansolveit.org, which feature unlikely allies like the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jerry Falwell agreeing that something needs to be done to fight global warming (video below).

Politicians and even some oil companies are part of this shift away from the question “Does global warming exist?” to “We have to do something about it.” That’s not to say everyone agrees on the solutions; for example, how coal or even nuclear power fit into our energy mix is a huge area of contention. We’re in to the nitty-gritty of the problem: which solutions are the best to use, who pays for what, how do we respond to markets or populations that are negatively impacted by our decisions?

With all of the solutions out there (many point out that there is no “silver bullet” to the global warming problem but rather “silver BBs”), we’re going to see an increasingly vocal debate on which technologies and policy mechanisms will create the most change, the best change, in the shortest amount of time. There are going to be growing pains as we transition to a clean energy economy. Successful points of view will come from those who frankly address how their technologies or ideas may impact certain sectors of the economy, how they plan to respond to those risks, how much the change will cost, who will pay for it and why.