On Thursday, Volvo Trucks North America held an event delivering the first of five VNR Electric trucks to Manhattan Beer Distributors in New York City. The event, held in the Hunts Point neighborhood of New York City, featured local politicians as well as leaders from the involved businesses, all of whom praised the commitment to cleaner air for the area.

The Class 8, single-axle VNR Electric is the first of five that will join the fleet in 2021, and will go into service right away, the fleet said. Manhattan Beer Distributors’ fleet has long featured alternative-fuel vehicles, most notably CNG, and the new trucks are part of an ongoing effort to electrify a significant portion of the fleet, according to Simon Bergson, founder, president and CEO of Manhattan Beer Distributors. Bergson says the goal is to fully eliminate diesel fuel from the fleet within four years.

This is the first VNR Electric to go into full service with a fleet outside of the state of California, where several have been tested already.

“As long as we rely upon cars to move people and trucks to move goods, they need to be more climate-friendly, they need to be electric, and they need to be now,” Henry Gutman, New York City Department of Transportation commissioner, said in his remarks.

“By working together with customers like Manhattan Beer Distributors that are dedicated to reducing their environmental impact, Volvo Trucks has been able to make meaningful progress on the path toward widescale commercial deployment of VNR Electrics from coast to coast,” said Peter Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Trucks North America.

“The moment Simon starts running this truck, clean air will be the result,” he added.

In addition to the trucks, the fleet has also installed three 150 kw chargers from Gilbarco Veeder-Root that allow this truck to be charged within approximately 70 minutes.