E-Motion day

“I didn’t sleep that night,” Samuel said, when I asked him on the panel about his first run in an e-truck. Today he smiles about it.

🎤 At the E-Motion Day at Käppeli Logistik in Sargans I moderated a panel on electric mobility in logistics and construction. On stage: owner Remo Bianchi, managing director Mike, head of corporate development Tim, representatives from several truck manufacturers, and Samuel, who drives an electric truck for Käppeli.

🤨 I asked Samuel what went through his head when Mike told him, tomorrow you’re driving electric. His answer: he didn’t sleep that night. He was set to go right across Switzerland to Basel, first time in an e-truck. He didn’t know if he’d make it, and his mind ran on range and charging.

😊 Then I asked him how it is today. Answer: it works, and he wouldn’t go back to diesel. But the obstacles haven’t gone away.

⚡ That was the moment everything else on stage got smaller. From owner to managing director to driver, one line came through: logistics is going electric.

🚚 Six European OEMs stood in the yard with their flagship models, from Scania to Designwerk, plus a Windrose from China. The European manufacturers spoke about the Windrose openly. A signal they take seriously, without letting it rattle them. But they also made it clear: there’s an e-truck for almost every use case today, and more arrive by the day.

📞 The trucks and the technology are here. But most of it happens where nobody’s watching. In dispatch, in the processes, in the driver’s head. That’s where it’s hardest.

🤝 That’s why Tim put it plainly: don’t try it alone. Get help, ideally from operators who’ve already been through it. There’s no reason to make every mistake yourself.

🦾 Mike framed it at the close: 24 years left until Switzerland meets the targets of the 2050 climate act. The time for watching from the sidelines is over. Let’s get on with it.