How To Decarbonize Over 72 Million (And Growing) Miles Of Heavy-Duty Trucking

The Makeshift Mechanic

Young Colin Huwyler stood in his neighbor’s driveway, staring at the innards of a Volkswagen Jetta. It was 2003 and the 19-year-old college dropout had never worked on a car before, but he was about to attempt something audacious: converting the vehicle to run on recycled cooking oil.

“I’ll help you do it,” his neighbor, a mechanical engineer at General Motors, had offered. “I’m not sure if it’s going to work or not, but I’ll help you do it.”

Little did Huwyler know, this DIY project would set him on a path to decarbonize the heavy-duty trucking industry at scale. He would go on to start Optimus Technologies, a climate-tech company poised to displace a billion gallons of diesel fuel by 2035.

Fossil Free Fuel

Huwyler’s passion for sustainable transportation began as a personal quest to reduce his carbon footprint. As a commuter student at the University of Buffalo, he sought an eco-friendly alternative to his hour-long drive. The solution? A car that could run on waste cooking oil from restaurant fryers.

“I had purchased a Volkswagen Jetta to run on recycled cooking oils,” Huwyler recalled. “Literally, I would recycle cooking oils from a restaurant fryer and power those into the Volkswagen Jetta. And I was using that to commute to college at the time.”

This hobby quickly evolved into Huwyler’s first venture, Fossil Free Fuel, which he founded in 2004. The company provided conversion kits for passenger vehicles, allowing eco-conscious drivers to power their cars with renewable fuels. As interest grew, Huwyler expanded the business to include grease collection and fuel distribution.

“We were actually collecting restaurant grease at a large scale. We were refining it and then we were actually delivering renewable fuels back to the end customer,” Huwyler explained. “So now, you could buy a kit and we would install it. We’d put it in your car. And then, you could also buy fuel.”

The idea behind Fossil Free Fuel was to make renewable fuels more accessible, and therefore, appealing to a broader audience. Huwyler continued, “During that time, we started to get inquiries from smaller trucking companies, a distribution company, and a construction company. They had some sustainability objectives that they were trying to achieve and wanted to know if we could do what we were doing on passenger cars for larger commercial trucks.”

It was this set of inquiries that would ultimately spark the idea for Optimus Technologies. “We weren’t exactly sure if it was possible,” Huwyler recalled. But just as his neighbor had said about his Volkswagen Jetta, “We said, ‘Yeah, we’ll give it a shot.’.”

Huwyler reflected on the core lesson he learned: “We realized that the markets were absolutely different: The needs of a fleet commercial operating business who relies on their trucks day in, day out for their business and for their livelihood were very different than an individual small vehicle.”

So that shot would lead Huwyler to spin out Optimus Technologies out of Fossil Free Fuel in 2010, focusing exclusively on developing and scaling advanced fuel systems for decarbonizing commercial and industrial trucking fleets.

The Eight-Year Experiment

Optimus’s journey from concept to commercial product was a marathon, not a sprint. For eight years, Huwyler and his team refined their technology through rigorous testing and pilot programs.

“We did a lot of testing and deployment and development to get to our commercial product,” Huwyler explained. Opimus’s home city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with its strong sustainability and economic-development objectives, was particularly interested in partnering with Optimus, which was just a promising local startup at the time. “The city of Pittsburgh was an early pilot user. They helped us refine the technology, develop it to the point where we could understand better how to release and how to launch a product in the commercial and industrial transportation space.”

This methodical approach allowed Optimus to iterate and improve their technology in real-world conditions, ensuring that it not only worked, but was also reliable and able to perform in the way that fleets were expecting. In conjunction with the city of Pittsburgh, Huwyler and his team worked with a local grocery chain to create a closed-loop system, where cooking oil produced in store cafes was collected, refined into biodiesel, and used to power the store’s yard trucks.

“It really created a good closed-loop story for them to talk about,” Huwyler noted. “The waste product that was coming out of their cafe operations was going back into their trucks to help offset their diesel fuel consumption. So it was a good, low-risk opportunity for their deployment because those trucks never left the site.”

Another key partnership during this period was with a training center for heavy-duty equipment operators. This allowed Optimus to test their technology on a wide range of machinery, from bulldozers to cranes, while showcasing the air quality benefits of biodiesel.

“Diesel engines are literally used to power the entire world - A diesel engine is really the heart of the industrialized economy. A lot of the heavy equipment is older, so it might be from the 80s or from the 90s. It doesn’t really have great emission control systems,” Huwyler explained. “And one of the advantages of biodiesel is that it actually burns substantially cleaner than traditional diesel. So the black smoke, black soot, that you see out of old diesel engines is particulate matter. It’s very toxic. It’s not safe. And biodiesel reduces that particulate matter anywhere between 50 and 70 percent - a very, very dramatic reduction in particulate matter, which results in a very large impact on air quality.”

This patient, multi-pronged approach paid off continuously in terms of understanding Optimus’s product-market fit: “One of the things that we’ve found as we evolve as a business is, again, very different market segments: So the buyers for municipal fleets and trucks, the buyers for commercial fleets and trucks, and the buyers in the construction equipment - They’re all very different. And as an early company, we cast our net wide and we were really trying to capture everything for everybody. And we learned a lot of hard lessons, but one of them was really focusing and narrowing in on one market or one application for the technology and proving that it can be very successful there before scaling out and trying to tackle lots of different markets.”

For now, Optimus is no longer operating in the construction market. Over time, Huwyler and his team found that on-road heavy-duty trucks would be their core focus. In 2018, Optimus released its commercial product, securing Washington, D.C.’s Department of Public Works as its first customer. From an initial deployment of six garbage trucks, the city now operates nearly 200 vehicles with Optimus’s technology, between garbage trucks, snow plows, and water and sewer cleaning equipment.

As the company has expanded its reach, its success has not gone unnoticed by regulatory bodies. In June 2023, the California Air Resources Board issued a new executive order permitting the use of Optimus’s technology and B100, the biogenic fuel used most often by Optimus, in on-road diesel engines through the 2023 model year. This recognition from one of the strictest emissions control bodies in the nation further validated Optimus’s technology, biodiesel, and their combined potential to make an immediate impact on carbon emissions.

Optimizing the Engine

At its core, Optimus’s technology enables heavy-duty diesel engines to operate on 100 percent biodiesel. This renewable fuel, made from oils and fats, dramatically reduces carbon emissions without disrupting existing operations or requiring massive infrastructure investments.

“We provide a pathway for large fleets to utilize their existing equipment,” Huwyler explained. “They can use the capital assets that they already have. With a small upgrade, they can then operate those assets with dramatically lower carbon emissions. It works within their budgets and doesn’t change the operating cycle of the trucks. It doesn’t impact the range.”

Huwyler broke down the technology: “The way that our technology integrates into a truck - There are a couple key components: We have a dedicated fuel tank that we put on the truck for our fuel. We’ve got a filter and a pump and a mechanical apparatus that we call our vector manifold. It’s kind of the heart of our system. It’s got all the mechanical components, all the sensors, things like that.”

A key feature of the system is its flexibility. “There is a set of valves that actually select between our system or the original diesel system. One of the key aspects is we’re never inhibiting the engine from operating on traditional diesel,” Huwyler noted. “And that’s really important for trucks that are going on long routes or really sensitive operations where they need to make sure that that truck’s performing regardless of what fuel it’s operating on.”

This enables the trucks to remain resilient in case it runs out of biodiesel through the ability to switch between it and traditional diesel. Huwyler continued, “There’s an interface that goes into the cabin of the truck so the driver can see some information about the system and what fuel the engine’s running on. And then, there’s software and an electronic controller device. The electronic controller communicates with the engine, communicates with our technology, and the software automates the entire process. So from a driver’s standpoint, they’re going to get in that vehicle and they’re going to operate it just like they would a traditional diesel vehicle - No change in their behavior.”

Optimus handles the installation of its technology via two methods: upgrading existing trucks or building it into brand new trucks that are still in production, either with its own team or in collaboration with third parties, such as service centers, dealerships, or manufacturers. Not only are the systems themselves flexible, but so is the installation. 

Optimus’s technology demonstrates impressive environmental benefits. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory reports that switching from petroleum diesel to B100 can slash carbon dioxide emissions by more than 75 percent. Moreover, research from the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory suggests that B100-powered vehicles produce significantly lower total lifecycle carbon emissions compared to both battery electric and fuel cell electric alternatives. 

Optimus has also made strides in addressing one of the primary concerns with biodiesel: cold weather performance. In a recent test at Analytical Engineering’s Drive-In Cold Cell testing facility in Columbus, Indiana, Optimus proved that their B100 solution works at temperatures as low as -30°F, dispelling the notion that clean fuels struggle in sub-zero temperatures. These findings underscore the potential of Optimus’s biodiesel solution in the race to reduce transportation-related carbon emissions.

Lessons From the Long Haul

Huwyler candidly admitted to the uncertainty that plagued the early days of Optimus: “In the early days, there was a lot of fundamental belief in the idea and the technology, but really a question about, ‘How is this going to work? How is it going to scale? How is it going to be successful? What do we need to do to get this across the finish line?’.”

The founder and CEO emphasized the importance of perseverance and flexibility in the face of uncertainty. “The reality is that a lot of times, it takes a lot longer than you expect it to,” he reflected. “Perseverance is a required trait in an entrepreneurial journey. I think that that’s one of the things that myself, in particular, and certainly our team has in spades. We’ve been committed for the long haul and just sheer determination and stubbornness got us through a lot of really challenging milestones.”

Huwyler also stressed the importance of planning while remaining adaptable. “I think it’s really important to plan, but the minute the plan is done, it pretty much has to change,” he said. “There’s a value in that exercise of planning, but you just have to realize that the reality is that nothing’s going to go according to plan. The plan is not what you live and die by.”

Another key lesson Huwyler shared is the power of asking for help. “People want to help you. You just have to ask,” he advised. “You have to be respectful. You have to value their time. You have to be balanced about how you approach it. But generally speaking, especially for younger, earlier stage companies that really have a lot to learn, seek out the experts. Seek out the people who you idolize or you want as a mentor.”

This approach has served Optimus well, leading to partnerships with major players in the industry and attracting significant investment.

Milestones and Metrics

Optimus’s growth trajectory is marked by several key milestones, including the commercial launch of its product in 2018, in which ten units were sold, reaching $1 million in sales about two or three years later, reaching $5 million in sales shortly after, and queuing up to reach just over $10 million in sales this year. Optimus has also been awarded five patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and been issued a number of executive orders from the California Air Resources Board after a three-and-a-half year process.

Among the most impressive is the company’s current tagline: “over 72 million miles of proof that fleets can decarbonize today”. This came out of a rigorous study conducted with ADM Trucking, a division of the global commodities company ADM, and their fleet of 500-plus trucks that move products from distribution centers to manufacturing facilities. Using ten of ADM Trucking’s trucks over a year and a half, this study accumulated 1.3 million miles of data, demonstrating the technology’s effectiveness and reliability in real-world conditions.

“We had about a dozen partners in total that came together to help structure and validate the study that we did with them,” Huwyler explained. Five trucks were equipped with Optimus’s technology, while five remained purely diesel-based. “They ran those trucks in their normal commercial operations. They didn’t make any changes. There was nothing unique about how they were operating the trucks.”

Then, in combining it with millions of miles accumulated from other avenues, such as Washington, D.C.’s Department of Public Works and other municipal customers like the cities of Ames and Des Moines, Iowa and Madison, Wisconsin, this study proved crucial in convincing larger commercial fleets to adopt the technology. “Ultimately, that work that we did there led directly to our deployment with PepsiCo,” Huwyler noted. “PepsiCo is one of the largest fleet operators in North America, moving products to stores, to distribution centers, from manufacturing centers.”

The success with PepsiCo has been particularly noteworthy. Starting with a pilot project of ten vehicles at their Frito-Lay manufacturing plant in Topeka, Kansas, PepsiCo has since expanded to several hundred trucks operating on B100 year-round using Optimus’s technology. They are further expanding the program to include their Wisconsin plant, with plans to continue to scale up with several hundred more trucks operating on Optimus-enabled B100 throughout the year.

The Road Ahead

Huwyler started Optimus on what he called “patient capital”, financing from investors who were particularly sustainability-focused, both in an environmental sense and in an economic-development and job-creation sense. 

Now, with a recent $17.8 million raised in a Series A round led by Japan’s Mitsui & Co. and with participation from Chevron Renewable Energy Group and Pittsburgh regional investors, Optimus is poised for significant growth. The company’s ambitious goal? To displace one billion gallons of diesel fuel by 2035.

“The impact that we want to see in the world is tracked by some of the metrics that we monitor internally, and that is carbon reduction,” Huwyler stated. “We track our customers’ carbon reduction. We track our own carbon impact. Our vision is to see every diesel vehicle that makes sense to be equipped to operate on renewable fuels.”

The company is expanding its reach through partnerships with vehicle manufacturers. In May 2024, Optimus announced a collaboration with Fontaine Modification, which specializes in post-production services for trucks, to equip new heavy-duty trucks with their proven decarbonization upgrade. This partnership has already resulted in hundreds of orders for new Volvo VNL trucks.

As climate change concerns intensify and industries seek immediate solutions for decarbonization, Optimus stands at the forefront of a potential revolution in heavy-duty transportation. With origins in a DIY project in a neighbor’s driveway, to now partnerships with global giants like PepsiCo, Colin Huwyler’s journey of over two decades embodies the transformative power of entrepreneurship driven by sustainability and grit.

In the race to combat climate change, Optimus is proving that sometimes the most effective solutions don’t require reinventing the wheel - or in this case, the engine. Instead, they leverage existing infrastructure to drive immediate, impactful change. As the heavy-duty trucking industry evolves, Optimus Technologies is ensuring that the road to a greener future is paved with pragmatic innovation.