SIDNEY — Global food giant Nestlé is taking the next step toward their goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions thanks to an all-electric spotter truck from Continental Express Inc., launching at Nestlé’s Jonesboro, Arkansas, operation in January 2024.

Continental Express has partnered with the Jonesboro facility for over eight years, providing Nestlé with yard management services for foods produced in Arkansas, including frozen brands like Stouffer’s, Lean Cuisine, DiGiorno, Tombstone and Hot Pockets.

Continental obtained its Orange EV truck in partnership with the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality’s Go RED! grant program. In addition to the tractor, Continental Express worked alongside Nestlé to fund and install an on-site electric charging station.

“Our philosophy is ‘Driving the Future, One Mile at a Time,’ meaning we’re looking to innovate the trucking industry while still closely tending to the details of every driver, every truck and every mile,” said Bradley Gottemoeller of Continental Express. “Nestlé is committed to sustainability, and we are excited to support and partner with them to continue taking steps to ‘Driving a Cleaner Future.’”

While both companies are already discussing plans to expand the quantity of EV trucks in Jonesboro and other facilities Continental services — like Nestlé’s Fort Worth location — the Arkansas-based truck alone is expected to reduce annual CO2 emissions by 58.5 tons. Additionally, the singular EV will save 7.75 tons of NOx emissions and 3.89 tons of carbon monoxide emissions in ten years.

“We’re excited to kick off our electric spotter services with Nestlé,” said Gottemoeller. “But by no means do we want to stop there. We have 30 spotters spread across six different states and are actively working on grants alongside our customers to help meet their sustainability goals as well as ours.”

Two Continental yard tractors operate out of Nestlé’s Jonesboro facility, each running 24 hours a day. The electric truck will replace an existing diesel-powered tractor.

The on-site electric charging station will aid in ‘opportunity charging’ — short periods of time when the tractor is plugged into the charger sitting between trailer moves replenishing the battery.

Nestlé’s Jonesboro facility employs more than 750 people and underwent expansions in 2020 to meet consumer demand. Continental’s yard management services are critical to efficiency in Nestlé’s distribution.

Nationally, Continental Express has nine terminals and over 1,750 assets and has recently developed a custom in-house YMS technology for its yard services.