Free Public Webinar: SMUD Fleet Electrification Experiences and Challenges

In just two short weeks, the CMC is hosting a complimentary Thought Leadership webinar, SMUD Fleet Electrification Experiences and Challenges. On February 16, our COO Mark Rawson and Scott Ungerer, senior partner in the office of the CEO will be joined by Casey Fallon, director of fleet operations and procurement at SMUD, for a virtual fireside chat at 9 a.m. PST.

Mark, Scott and Casey will discuss Casey’s experiences with fully electrifying an electric utilities’ fleet, the challenges he has faced and his key takeaways. SMUD has been actively transitioning its light duty fleet to EVs since 2014 when Casey took the role as director of fleet operations, and in 2017 they began purchasing hybrid bucket trucks. In 2021, SMUD had roughly 950 fleet assets with 13% having an electric option, including 25 hybrid bucket trucks.

With SMUD’s ambitious 2030 Zero-Carbon Plan, which we talked about in January’s Thought Leadership webinar with Arlen Orchard and SMUD CEO Paul Lau, making the transition to an all-electric fleet is crucial. Casey will share some tips, as well as the best practices he has discovered, to make achieving this switch just a little bit easier.

Today, SMUD eagerly awaits their delivery from CMC Client Zeus Electric Chassis, who is building five all-electric heavy duty work trucks for SMUD to add to their growing fleet of EVs. Referring to SMUD’s partnership with Zeus, Casey stated, “What I am most excited about with this opportunity is to look past the deployment of the five all-electric work trucks, to think bigger than our operating fleet of 950 vehicles here at SMUD, and think about what the commercial fleet, utility fleet, or construction equipment market might look like across California. Can you imagine all of that purchasing power combined and focused on a common set of goals or objectives?”

You can read more from Casey Fallon in this blog post, or you can watch the webinar replay below to hear more directly from Casey.