Budweiser Brewery Creates First Low-Carbon Footprint Beer Delivery Truck

HotCars

By Mark Lugris

Published Nov 25, 2019

The beer was shipped in a Nikola hydrogen-electric semi and then delivered to its its final destination in a BYD electric truck.

Beer at the Enterprise Center will soon have a much smaller minimal carbon footprint. Last week, St. Louis Blues fans received their first beer delivery using zero-emissions delivery vehicles. The beer was shipped in a Nikola hydrogen-electric semi and then delivered to its final destination in a BYD electric truck. Anheuser-Busch ordered 800 of the hydrogen-electric Nikola semi-trucks last year as the beer giant hopes to covert its entire long-haul vehicle fleet into a zero-emissions one. The company plans to reduce 25% of its carbon emissions by 2025.

Budweiser will use a fleet of Nikola Two hydrogen-electric trucks, which not only run on hydrogen but also integrate a hydrogen fuel cell and battery-electric powertrain. On hydrogen, the Two will go up to 750 miles. With electricity from the battery, Nikola anticipates up to 350 miles of range. The BYD electric trucks, like the one used in this first delivery, are intended to balance the semis.

Though mostly running in California, where Anheuser-Busch started a pilot project with 21 of the electric vehicles, the beer giant hopes to service four different distribution centers. The company has also built a 958.5 kW solar array to charge the vehicles with renewable energy.

Nikola Motor Company, an American hybrid truck design company based in Phoenix, Arizona, where it also has its research and development operations, which was founded in 2014 in Salt Lake City, hopes to deliver its production semis to Budweiser as soon as possible. Production, which will take place in Arizona at a new facility, is expected to create 2,000 new jobs to the area by 2024. The company is also hoping to deliver hydrogen refueling with 700 stations by 2028.

Nikola Motor Company, which designed an electric Class 8 truck called the Nikola One, with a 320 kWh EV battery supplying 6 traction electric motors with a combined software-limited 1,000 hp and 2,000 lb-ft of torque, which allows for a speed of 65 mph with a full load of 80,000 pounds on a 6% grade.