Mesh 2023: Industry insights for shippers

On June 8, Einride Mesh took place for the second time with the theme “Make intelligent moves”. Mesh brought together people from different realms of transportation as well as those from other sectors. Business leaders shared their experiences and learnings when it comes to implementing and scaling intelligent and sustainable shipping operations.

Einride Mesh took place in New York City on a day when the air outside the venue sent a clear reminder of the pressing need to act on climate change. The city was blanketed in smog stemming from wildfires in Canada. But on stage, the atmosphere was not nearly as bleak. A clear message was being reinforced: by working together, we can define how tomorrow looks.

Indeed, Mesh 2023 highlighted the importance of partnerships – especially for shippers – when it comes to making the switch to intelligent and sustainable transportation. Representatives from businesses already shipping with Einride shared key insights into how the partnership has transformed their operations. 

In the summaries below, you will get an overview of some of the key topics that were explored at the event. They include the challenges of electric freight and how to manage these; why shippers can’t go electric without going digital; how automation enables workers to add more value; and how sustainable freight positively impacts local communities. 

With new technology, electric freight can handle heavy haul 

Since May 2023, Einride’s customer Wallenius Wilhelmsen ASA (WalWil) is live with operations in Georgia. WalWil’s EVP and COO Logistics Services, Michael Hynekamp, took the stage at Mesh to share the company’s experience with electrifying heavy-haul freight. In addition to explaining how electric trucks will be used to transport goods from the port of Savannah to its off-port location, Michael discussed the challenges of electric freight, such as charging infrastructure, and emphasized the importance of partnering with state entities and knowledgeable organizations to tackle these challenges. Michael also talked about how WalWil went about finding the right ecosystem partner for its electric truck operations and developing the best use case. 

“We’ll move a million tonnes of weight in a day.”

Michael also revealed how WalWil went about finding the right ecosystem partner for its electric truck operations – one that would enable it to develop the best use case. “We were looking for solutions that could extend the sustainability channel for us once we receive our units into the Port of Savannah and then move them to our off-port location to handle and process them,” said Michael.

He explains that going electric with Einride was a fitting choice for these flows: “It was a natural place to look at sustainability for us and put the Einride product, or any EV product, in because it’s a very short ray. It’s about 10 miles one way back and forth and we’re able to do that basically 20 times a day with the trucks we’ll put into place. So we’ll move a million tonnes of weight in a day, going back and forth between those locations.”

Watch the session with Michael Hynekamp from Mesh.

The potential of autonomous freight in day-to-day operations 

GE Appliances (GEA), a Haier company, has been a customer of Einride since 2021. At Mesh, Harry Chase, Senior Director of Central Materials at GEA, shared the company’s insights from its digital, electric, and autonomous operations with Einride as well as the learnings from the first autonomous freight pilot on a US public road without a driver on board. Harry highlighted the potential of autonomous vehicles for less complex operational situations; such instances could speed up implementation and drive cost-efficiency for shippers. He also noted that autonomy will open up new opportunities, both within operations but also in creating new types of professions such as remote operators.

“It’s really about getting the workers where they are the most valuable.” 

”We’re still in the early phases of building out all the technology and automation together. The goal is to eliminate those dangerous, dull and dirty jobs, even inside the factories with fixed robotics.” said Harry. “It’s really about building out that whole kind of ecosystem to get the workers where they are the most valuable.” 

When it comes to autonomous transportation, Einride ensures humans are always kept in the loop. Specialist remote operators will monitor the autonomous electric vehicles using Einride’s Remote Interface – a purpose-built workstation which enables them manually control the vehicle, if required.

Watch the session with Harry Chase from Mesh.

Cut through the noise: You can’t go electric without going digital

Einride’s Chief Product Officer, Ellen Kugelberg, joined Mesh to deep-dive into how digitalization based on Einride Saga's intelligence has allowed the tech company to overcome electrification barriers and cater solutions toward customers’ specific needs. Ellen explained how electrification done “the Einride way” adds significant value to shipping, citing the fact that Einride has built an intelligent operating system to ensure optimized truck planning, fill rates, and driver scheduling – all while managing a range of complexities, including charging requirements and factors that impact battery health.

“Data can be meaningless if you don’t know what to do with it.”

“We build out and develop all the different pieces to create the digital infrastructure that will ultimately give us – as well as the entire ecosystem – more efficient transportation. It includes having deep insights of the vehicles, the chargers, driver behaviors, and a lot of other factors that directly affect the performance, like the topography of the route, the climate, the weight of the goods, and so much more,” said Ellen.

“We turn this expertise and data into meaningful and actionable insights – both on a strategic level as well as on an operational level. After all, data can be meaningless if you don’t know what to do with it.”

Einride’s CPO then handed the mic to Product Manager Sabina Söderstjerna. Based on real customer data, Sabina conducted live demos of Einride Saga – showing the freight mobility platform’s algorithms and models and how these can benefit shippers. She also revealed how shippers can act on the insights provided by Saga to save on both emissions and costs. Get your own savings estimate from Saga.

“Saga is developed to serve your needs and to provide you with a direct path on what to optimize next, letting you reach high profitability,” said Sabina. “Einride is the transformational partner that helps you go electric.”  

To learn more about Einride Saga and what was covered during the session, watch the video below or read more here. You can also get your own savings estimate from Saga.

Watch the session from Mesh 2023 – featuring Ellen Kugelberg and Sabina Söderstjerna – which includes a live demo of Einride Saga.

Improving urban life for a resilient future 

Sustainable freight and how it can improve urban life was the hot topic during a panel featuring Sven Wallisch, Head of Transport Logistics, Region East at Rewe and Trelynd Bradley, Deputy Director for Sustainable Freight and Supply Chain at the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). The panel focused on how sustainable freight can help build cleaner, safer and healthier cities, while positively impacting communities particularly affected by pollution and climate change. 

Trelynd touched upon some of the initiatives and legislations that the state of California is introducing for a cleaner and healthier state: “We have a rule that is taking place at the beginning of next year – that every new drainage vehicle that must be registered within the system at the state must be zero emission,” he said.

“Just with our goals with zero emission vehicles, we project an immediate 25% reduction in smog in the next 10 to 15 years. In our complete pathway to carbon neutrality, we’ve quantified the collective health benefits of what they would be to Californians for that complete reduction in emissions. And this is everything from asthma rates, hospital admissions, cardiac issues. We total that amount to USD 200 billion in cost savings, collectively, for health.”

“The technical electrification potential in urban delivery is already 100% today.”

On the topic of creating cleaner cities, Sven shared Rewe’s experience with going electric with Einride in the Berlin region, the challenges of shipping in urban areas, and the insights that influenced Rewe’s decision to go electric. 

“I would like to briefly go into a few points that, resulting from the study with the Fraunhofer Institute of Innovation, have influenced our further actions in the context of the transformation towards electric operated trucks. The tradeoff between technical feasibility and economic evolution is decisive,” said Sven.

“From a technical point of view, urban delivery traffic is the simplest case of electrification, but economical operation is a key challenge due to the low mileage. From a technical point of view, 100% electrification of the fleet is already possible today. The technical electrification potential in urban delivery is already 100% today. For deliveries over longer distances, more than 50% of all the trips are already possible with battery electric trucks.”

An ecosystem partner for intelligent electric freight

Einride enables shippers to make the switch to intelligent electric freight. The one-stop “turnkey” solution means shippers are able to have their capacity moved without complexity or costly overhead investments, since Einride handles all the necessary physical infrastructure, digital infrastructure, and operational resources. 

It’s about much more than just going electric – it’s about going electric intelligently, which includes knowing where to electrify first with the greatest environmental impact and strongest business case. And it’s about leveraging the technological capabilities and expertise that comes with Einride operating some of the largest electric fleets in North America and Europe.

“If you’re a shipper thinking of adding electric trucks to your operations today, rest assured that when you join Einride, you’re not jumping on an innovation wagon into the unknown,” says Ellen, at Mesh. “We are the market leaders in electric freight, and we have been working with shippers on their transition for more than 3 years now.”

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Mesh 2023 is now in the books. Interested in joining us next year? Register your interest in future Mesh events here.

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