Rakesh Aneja, vice president and chief of eMobility for Daimler Truck North America, has a photo of his children, niece and nephew set as the screensaver on his phone. He told an audience last week at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo that the photo reminds him daily of the reason behind DTNA’s efforts to go green: to make the world a better place for the coming generations.
At the Volvo booth in the expo hall nearby, Volvo Trucks North America President Peter Voorhoeve showed a picture of a young girl in nature. He said Volvo has a global target to reduce CO2 emissions by 50% by 2030 so children like her can experience the nature that is being affected by climate change.
John Rich, vice president and chief technology officer at PACCAR Inc., said in his ACT Expo keynote address that it was time to get past appealing terminology and onto action.
“We're facing a convergence of technology, regulation and climate change. You'll hear words like disruption and transformation and, my favorite, existential threat, like we're all dinosaurs waiting for the meteor to hit us,” Rich said inside the Anaheim Convention Center near Los Angeles where ACT Expo experienced record attendance. “It's the people who have to get this done – people in this room. Let's stop using beautiful words; instead let's talk about how we're going to embrace the challenge and do our part in climate change, how we're going to improve the products using zero emissions technologies and, most importantly, how we're going to work together to make this transition possible for OEMs, dealers, suppliers and fleets.”
John Rich of Paccar delivers his keynote address at ACT Expo in Anaheim, California.Angel Coker
Together was a key theme at this year’s ACT Expo.
DTNA partnered with NextEra Energy Resources and BlackRock Alternatives in a joint venture called Greenlane to design, develop, install and operate a U.S. nationwide, high-performance zero-emission public charging and hydrogen fueling network for medium- and heavy-duty battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. But DTNA President and CEO John O’Leary said his company’s efforts, even in partnership, will not be enough to meet the targets set for this industry.
