Tire's Warehouse Unveils Revenue Stream from Fleet of E-Lifts

The PDF version of the below case study is available here.

For over 50 years, Tire’s Warehouse, a leading tire wholesaler, has delivered exceptional value and unparalleled service for West Coast markets—inclusive of California, Nevada, and Arizona. Based out of Corona, California, Tire’s Warehouse employs over 500 team members, has more than 20 brands of tires, over 19,000 SKUs, and provides its customers with free same-or-next day delivery. Founded on the philosophy of always putting their customers first and maintaining the strength and longevity of their relationships with manufacturers, Tire’s Warehouse strives to make doing business with them a seamless experience.

Tire’s Warehouse’s E-Lift Challenge:

Tire’s Warehouse first transitioned to electric lifts over eleven years ago to avoid the constant process of otherwise exchanging and refilling propane tanks. With roughly 90% of their lifts being order pickers, using electric models has enabled them to experience efficiencies throughout their supply chain. Recognizing the positive environmental impact electric offers, California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) has allowed those using electric forklifts to generate clean fuel credits and subsequently, new revenue since January 1, 2016.

However, like many other companies, Tire’s Warehouse wasn’t aware of LCFS credits and had forgone the financial returns for using electric lifts.

LCFS Credit Generation Solution:

Aware of the untapped financial potential, U.S. Gain approached Tire’s Warehouse with their credit generation service. After overcoming the commonly held misconception that this was too good to be true, by Q3 of 2020, their e-lifts were registered with the California Air Resources Board (CARB). And, U.S. Gain was still able to report their Q2 charging usage, surfacing even more revenue.

The process was simple. Tire’s Warehouse simply provided basic information on their lifts, chargers, and facilities as well as conducted an easy, quarterly data pull from a few of their chargers: serving as a baseline for their e-lift fleet. After, U.S. Gain handled the rest—submitting registration to CARB, compiling quarterly data, performing all calculations, gaining approval on data, verifying data accuracy, and monetizing generated credits through their tenured, in-house trading team.

The Resulting Financial Benefit from the LCFS:

Since April of 2020, Tire’s Warehouse’s 85+ electric lifts have generated over $150,000 in LCFS credit value. “I never would have guessed the value that could be derived from participating in credit generation. Simply by using an existing fleet of vehicles, this process affords organizations the ability to reinvest earnings back into their organization as a profit,” noted Brad Uptgraft, Director of Operations at Tire’s Warehouse.

 

Next Steps in Fleet Expansion:

Tire’s Warehouse has committed to retiring and replacing their 12 pre-2011 e-lift models in the coming years. By doing so, their new lifts will generate credits at 4x the value of that of the models they replaced. Additionally, Tire’s Warehouse will continue upgrading outdated chargers with those bearing better efficiencies—helping to increase their credit potential. Together, these actions result in a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for new equipment purchased as well as lower overall operational costs. But, that’s not all. They’re to incorporate additional renewable energy sources – prioritizing project sustainability.