Pickup Please, the donation pickup service operated by Red White & Blue Thrift Store, has launched electric donation trucks in partnership with Evolectric.
The vehicles were converted using Evolectric’s CircularEV retrofit process and have been operating across the Greater Los Angeles area since May.
The trucks are used for residential donation pickups and local deliveries to Red White & Blue Thrift Store locations, a stop-and-go duty cycle that highlights the practicality of EV retrofits for urban fleets.
These trucks were deployed without government incentives and each conversion saved approximately $78,000 per vehicle, representing a 45% reduction in capital costs compared to purchasing new electric trucks, the companies said.
In partnership with EV charging solutions provider EverCharge, two AC chargers were installed at Pickup Please’s Los Angeles facility using existing power availability to support overnight charging. This kept costs under $10,000 and limited the deployment timeline to a few weeks, minimizing downtime and enabling a fast return to service.
Evolectric and Pickup Please have signed a letter of intent to expand the model nationwide across the organization’s entire fleet.
“Seeing these donation trucks reborn as electric vehicles and serving Los Angeles neighborhoods shows what circular electrification is all about. It is faster, more affordable, and more sustainable than starting from scratch. Circular electrification lets fleets cut costs and emissions without sacrificing reliability or economics,” said Jakson Alvarez, co-founder of Evolectric.
Source: Evolectric
