Amanda DeVoe-Bice is no stranger to heavy-duty vehicles. She spent her childhood on a farm in Iowa, learning how to drive a tractor before a car. She would navigate rows of corn and soybeans to pick out large rocks before the crops grew too high. “My time on the farm grounded in me many things that contribute to who I am today,” Amanda says.
Amanda has moved from driving a tractor to transforming a fleet of 80,000 vehicles today. She leads the transition of PepsiCo’s fleet to lower-emission and electric alternatives across PepsiCo in North America. “We are one of the largest fleet operations in North America, and it's something we take incredible pride in,” Amanda says. “If you look across the decarbonization space, there's been a lot of meaningful progress in the industry. It’s exciting and it's helping PepsiCo shape the future.”
One of the most high-profile aspects of Amanda’s job is growing PepsiCo’s electric fleet. She’s worked with Tesla to roll out their fully electric Semi trucks — making PepsiCo the first company in the world to put them on the road. The company also has a sizable fleet of Ford E-Transit electric vans in its lineup from coast to coast. PepsiCo Beverages recently announced plans to triple the size of its electric fleet in California with the addition of Tesla Semis operating out of Fresno, California to transport Pepsi, Gatorade, Starry, Aquafina and more and adding to its fleet of Ford E-Transits deployed across the state. PepsiCo also continues to transform key sites into 100% all-electric vehicle hubs, most recently at Frito-Lay facilities in the Charlotte and Chicago-area markets.
The men and women who drive our trucks are at the heart of what we do. Our food and beverages get to the shelf because of our drivers.
The work doesn’t solely involve putting EVs on the road — Amanda acts as an expert voice to help pave the way for more charging stations to be built. “Installing charging infrastructure requires an incredible amount of collaboration with utility providers, contractors, hardware providers and vehicle manufacturers to shape the roadmap to install equipment,” Amanda explains. “It’s a great complexity for the industry as we grow and deploy more electric.”
Reducing emissions puts Amanda on the hunt for new technology to incorporate more sustainable fuels including renewable natural gas and biodiesel, which can come from sources like used cooking oil. “We continue to explore additional alternative fuels that allow us to impact our carbon footprint,” Amanda says.
The company’s associates are key in creating this future, Amanda explains, as the success of the frontline employees behind the wheel is essential to transitioning the fleet. “The men and women who drive our trucks are at the heart of what we do,” Amanda says. “Our food and beverages get to the shelf because of our drivers.” To support them, Amanda and her team develop training and upskilling programs to ensure the frontline stays current in the skills needed to operate the new technology.
For Amanda, seeing the excitement of the drivers driving these sustainable trucks is just as rewarding as putting another EV on the road. “One of my favorite conversations with the drivers who have driven the Semis is how they feel like celebrities when they're in these trucks, because they evoke such a topic of conversation and interest from people,” Amanda says. “When they drive that zero-emissions vehicle, they don't want to go back.”