Frito-Lay Records First Third-Party EV Shipment

PLANO, Texas — Frito-Lay North America made its first-ever third-party shipment on an electric vehicle (EV) with Schneider National Inc., a multimodal provider of transportation, intermodal and logistics services.

This marks the first third-party transportation shipment on an EV for PepsiCo globally and establishes Frito-Lay North America and its snack products as the first to contract transport on Schneider's electric truck fleet of Freightliner eCascadias.

"Today's milestone shipment underscores the importance of cross-industry collaboration in building a more sustainable food system and achieving Frito-Lay and PepsiCo Positive's goal of net-zero emissions by 2040," said David Allen, vice president and chief sustainability officer, PepsiCo Foods North America. "As a company with massive scale, Frito-Lay looks for opportunities to create positive change — but we can't do it alone. By working with Schneider, we are taking an important step forward in our efforts to reduce value chain emissions and move our snack products in a more sustainable way."

Based on expected mileage in 2023, an emissions reduction of more than 70 percent is expected this year from the initial EV routes vs. the same shipments on diesel trucks. This is equivalent to eliminating more than 180,000 miles driven by gasoline-powered passenger vehicles from the road, according to equivalency sourced from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.

Initial shipments on Schneider's growing Freightliner eCascadia fleet will be intermodal inbound and outbound dray moves in southern California, including service to Frito-Lay's Rancho Cucamonga distribution center.

"As we roll out our fleet of almost 100 new battery electric trucks, we're thrilled to offer a cleaner mode of freight transportation to valued customers like Frito-Lay, who share our goal of operating in ways that are environmentally responsible," said Rob Reich, executive vice president and chief administrative officer for Schneider National.

"For decades, we have been committed to improving sustainability at Schneider, and we're proud to now be able to positively impact our customers' operations as well. Working together, we are decreasing the carbon footprint of shipments in southern California and making a positive difference," Reich added.

Frito-Lay and PepsiCo's commitment to net-zero emissions by 2040 is guided by PepsiCo Positive, or pep+, an end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability at the center of how the company will create growth and value by operating within planetary boundaries.

With third-party transportation and distribution forming 20 percent of PepsiCo's emissions footprint, collaboration with partners from whom these emissions originate is critical. Frito-Lay's partnership with Schneider lays important groundwork for an expansion of low- or zero-emissions vehicle use within its third-party transportation footprint, the company stated.

Within its company-owned fleet, Frito-Lay is also making significant advancements. Among them is the recent transformation of one of Frito-Lay's largest manufacturing facilities, located in Modesto, Calif., as the first to implement site-wide alternative fuel vehicles. To serve the company's hometown market of Dallas-Fort Worth, Frito-Lay also introduced 40 100 percent electric, zero-emissions route trucks in 2022.

To learn more about pep+ and progress toward net-zero goals, click here.

Green Bay, Wis.-based Schneider National's solutions include regional and long-haul truckload, expediated, dedicated, bulk, intermodal, brokerage, warehousing, supply chain management, port logistics and logistics consulting. The company's digital marketplace, Schneider FreightPower, gives shippers access to an expanded, flexible capacity network and provides carriers with access to quality drop-and-hook freight.

Frito-Lay North America is the $23 billion convenient foods division of Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo Inc. Frito-Lay snacks include Lay's and Ruffles potato chips, Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips and branded dips, Cheetos snacks, Stacy's pita chips, PopCorners popped-corn snack, SunChips multigrain snacks and Fritos corn chips. The company operates 30-plus manufacturing facilities across the United States and Canada, more than 200 distribution centers, and services 315,000 retail customers per week through its direct-store-delivery model.