Wilbur-Ellis Puts Ford Electric Trucks in The Field

Wilbur-Ellis, based in San Francisco, Calif., has announced a move toward electric vehicles for its agribusiness operations. Through a collaboration with Ford Pro, Ford Motor Company’s commercial division, Wilbur-Ellis will initially integrate 10 of the new Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks into its fleet in the California regions of Sonoma County and Salinas. Ford Pro will also provide charging stations and in-vehicle telematics that can remotely monitor and optimize charging and vehicle diagnostics through its proprietary cloud-based software.

Wilbur-Ellis President and CEO John Buckley announced the plan on May 20 during a panel discussion with Ford Pro CEO Ted Cannis at Dutton Ranch in Sebastopol, Calif. Dutton Ranch, a longtime Wilbur-Ellis customer and a third-generation grower of wine grapes and apples in the Sonoma wine region, is also participating in the Ford F-150 Lightning pilot program through Sonoma County Winegrowers to test electric pickup trucks and cargo vans. 

Buckley described the collaboration between Wilbur-Ellis and Ford Pro as a win for both companies. 

“Ford Pro will see its new electric trucks in action,” he said. “Wilbur-Ellis will begin the transition to electric vehicles in our fleet, which includes 2,800 on-road vehicles worldwide, and our customers will benefit from the information we gather about the impact these vehicles could have in their operations.”

Wilbur-Ellis’ involvement will increase the Ford pilot program’s scale, and expand its reach beyond Sonoma to the small, vegetable-farming community of Salinas. The agribusiness company’s first Ford Lightning trucks, set to arrive in the coming weeks, will be put into service by Wilbur-Ellis field technicians for site visits to local ranches. Through Ford Pro’s telematics dashboard, fleet managers will be able to access real-time data for each vehicle, including its location, maintenance alerts, charging status and distance driven. 

If the pilot program is successful, he added, Wilbur-Ellis plans to add Ford F-150 Lightning trucks to its operations in other regions, including the Midwest. 

“We’ll start small, learn, and then go from there,” he said. 

While some employees were initially skeptical about the electric truck’s range, Buckley said, they became excited when they learned more about its capabilities—such as the ability to power electric devices in the field and act as a back-up generator in emergency situations.

“Now we're getting questions like, how do I get on the list?” said Buckley. “The creativity is starting to bubble up from folks thinking about how they could do their jobs differently with this kind of a truck. So we're really excited about it.” 

Wilbur-Ellis’ collaboration with Ford grew from a 30-year friendship between Buckley and Cannis, who came to California in January to announce Ford Pro’s partnership with Sonoma County Winegrowers. When Cannis told him about the pilot program and Dutton Ranch’s involvement, Buckley was quick to get on board. 

“I said, we want to do something to make the world more sustainable,” he recalled, “so let’s do it.”

The Wilbur-Ellis announcement coincides with a broader company initiative unveiled on May 22 to make operations more sustainable by reducing carbon emissions and increasing the use of renewable energy. Wilbur-Ellis plans achieve net zero absolute carbon emissions by 2050, in alignment with the Paris Agreement goal of keeping the average rise in global temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. As part of its efforts to increase the use of renewable energy in its manufacturing and distribution operations, the company recently kicked off a project to install solar panels at 15 of its facilities across California. 

Buckley believes that along with reducing carbon emissions, electric vehicles can provide valuable benefits for farmers in running their businesses. 

“I think it will make them more efficient,” he said. “The last thing they want to do if they’re out in the field is come back for fuel.” 

Reported by Tina Caputo