Hermann Services, a nearly century old, family run logistics company approaching its 100th year, is turning its own hard won lessons on fleet electrification into a two day industry summit, bringing state lawmakers, utility executives, and freight leaders to New Brunswick to talk through what actually works.
The Trucking Company Running New Jersey’s Largest Electric Fleet Is Hosting Its Own Summit
Hermann Services, the Monmouth Junction based warehousing and logistics company that now operates New Jersey’s largest known electric commercial vehicle fleet, will host its first ever Sustainability Summit on September 17th and 18th at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. The two day gathering brings together more than 150 corporate executives, fleet operators, vehicle manufacturers, fuel suppliers, financial institutions, policymakers, and university researchers for what organizers are billing as a candid look at what is actually working, and what still is not, in the freight industry’s push toward net zero emissions.
A Company Speaking From Direct Experience
Hermann’s decision to organize the summit itself, rather than simply attend an existing industry conference, traces directly back to the company’s own recent history. In October 2025, Hermann signed a landmark agreement with Peterbilt and Hunter Truck to acquire 15 new electric trucks, a deal that made the company New Jersey’s largest known operator of electric commercial vehicles almost overnight. CEO Jeff Hermann has described the milestone as more than a fleet upgrade, framing it as a deliberate bet on positioning the company as the logistics provider of choice for clients serious about their own environmental commitments. That electrification push has continued since, with Hermann securing nearly 3 million dollars in additional funding from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s Zero Emission Incentive Program earlier this year to keep expanding the fleet further.
That hands on experience navigating grid capacity limits, charging infrastructure buildouts, and the real financial hurdles of heavy duty fleet electrification is precisely what Hermann is positioning as the summit’s core value proposition. Rather than a theoretical climate policy conference, the event is built around the practical, often unglamorous roadblocks companies actually run into when they try to convert a diesel dependent freight operation into something closer to zero emission, the kind of gritty operational detail a company that has already lived through the process is uniquely positioned to speak to firsthand.
Seven Sessions, One Central Question
The summit’s agenda spans seven core sessions built around different pieces of the same larger challenge, how a freight and logistics industry built on diesel actually gets to net zero without stalling out on cost, infrastructure, or workforce readiness along the way.
First, Middle & Last Mile Electrification
How electrification strategy differs across each stage of a shipment’s journey.
Net Zero Fuels in Practice
The operational reality of alternative fuels, including hydrogen and renewable diesel, beyond the pilot stage.
Infrastructure & Fleet Readiness
Solving charging network and grid capacity limits for heavy-duty freight.
Funding & Clean Tech Incentives
Accessing state and federal grants to offset the high upfront cost of zero-emission fleets.
Scope 3 Analytics
Navigating the data collection required to track and report indirect supply chain emissions.
C-Suite Ownership Complexity
How sustainability decisions actually get made, and funded, at the executive level.
Rounding out the agenda, a seventh session focuses on building the sustainability workforce of the future, addressing a less discussed but equally practical constraint on the industry’s transition, whether enough trained technicians, engineers, and operators actually exist to keep an electrified freight network running once the trucks and charging stations are in place.
A Lineup Spanning Policy, Utilities, and the Factory Floor
New Jersey State Senator Bob Smith, who chairs the Senate Environment and Energy Committee, will deliver a keynote titled The Big Picture, New Jersey’s Energy Landscape, offering a policymaker’s view of where the state’s broader energy strategy is heading. Senator Andrew Zwicker will join attendees for a separate conversation focused specifically on fusion energy and what the technology could eventually mean for clean power generation, a notably forward looking addition to an agenda otherwise focused on near term operational challenges. Automotive and regulatory policy journalist John Voelcker rounds out the confirmed speaker lineup announced so far, alongside a growing list of panelists that includes Pamela Frank, chief executive of the electric vehicle advocacy coalition ChargEVC-NJ, and Dawn Neville, PSE&G’s senior manager of electric transportation, who leads the utility’s efforts to build out charging infrastructure for both light duty and heavy duty vehicles.
The event carries meaningful industry backing beyond Hermann itself, with Hunter Truck serving as title sponsor and PSE&G as platinum sponsor, alongside support from the American Trucking Association, the New Jersey Motor Truck Association, TD Bank, Samsara, and Clean Energy, among others. Day one closes with a formal networking dinner for attendees, while day two wraps with a closing keynote, giving the two day format room for both structured panel discussion and the kind of informal, cross industry conversation that conference organizers often say produces the most useful connections. Registration remains open to logistics professionals, corporate shippers, and sustainability directors through the summit’s official ticketing page.
