More of those J.B. Hunt trucks you see rolling across Interstate 40 in Oklahoma might soon be electric rigs.
The Arkansas-based company recently ordered 13 of the battery-electric and hydrogen-powered fuel cell trucks from Nikola and deliveries are set to begin this month. Ten of the trucks will be battery-electric rigs which will help reduce inventory for Nikola. The other three will be hydrogen-powered fuel cell trucks and will help Nikola financially as the firm recently faced the threat of being delisted from Nasdaq.
“It’s important for us to be at the forefront of new technologies and innovative solutions that have the potential to change the way we move freight,” said Nick Hobbs, chief operating officer and president of contract services at J.B. Hunt.
“These zero-emission trucks from Nikola advance our progress towards achieving our ambitious goal to reduce carbon emission intensity through viable solutions.”
It was in November of last year when J.B. Hunt set a goal to reduce carbon emission intensity 32% by 2034.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, the company took delivery of its first company-owned Class 8 electric vehicle. In 2017, J.B. Hunt was one of the first companies to place an order for an all-electric heavy-duty Class 8 truck and began incorporating electric vehicles into operations in 2023.
In addition to electric vehicles, J.B. Hunt is helping reduce carbon emissions through intermodal conversion. Over the past decade, J.B. Hunt’s intermodal service has helped avoid an estimated 30 million metric tons of CO2e emissions from over-the-road truck transportation.