Manhattan Beer Distributors

Manhattan Beer Distributors is the fourth-largest beer distributor and the largest single-market beer distributor in the United States with headquarters in New York City, New York.

As the first company in the North East to convert their diesel trucks to compressed natural gas (CNG), Manhattan Beer is a proactive industry leader focused on minimizing their carbon footprint. With their continued Green Initiative and partnership with Volvo Trucks, the fleet is now transitioning to heavy-duty electric vehicles. The missing piece of their new EV fleet was our Omega charge management.

Manhattan Beer Ribbon Cutting

The goal

Transitioning to an EV fleet

With sustainability as a top priority, Manhattan Beer extended its long-time partnership with Volvo to include a pilot project of five heavy-duty Volvo VNR electric trucks– the first of its kind on the East Coast. To support their EV fleet, Manhattan Beer installed eight chargers to their site, which did not include charge management software. Without a way to monitor and respond in real-time, the fleet could not optimize for lower energy costs, guarantee uptime, or understand power demand of the EVs.

Manhattan Beer saved over $38,000 in energy costs with Omega.

The outcome

Automated charge management

Reducing emissions was just one half of the equation for Manhattan Beer – with new HD EVs on the road, they also needed to manage charging schedules, optimize energy costs, and monitor power draw for the whole site. We worked with the fleet to integrate Omega charge management software to work with all of their chargers and automate charging operations.This included the ability to automatically monitor and respond to energy consumption in real time, limiting the need for additional utility service and construction.

The fleet typically charges Tuesday through Saturday and depends on each vehicle being ready at the start of each shift to deliver their product. Because Omega automates charging for lowest cost, Manhattan Beer can now charge at lower utility rates, reduce demand pricing, and respond to energy alerts– saving over $38,000 in energy costs from November 2021 to September 2022. They saved over $19,000 in the summer months alone, typically marked by higher utility rates.

Omega also helps Manhattan Beer:

  • Prolong hardware lifespan
  • Participate in grid services
  • Provide resilient local failover mode of operations
  • Keep power draw below physical power constraints
  • Deliver guaranteed EV readiness

The future

Moving beyond the pilot

Manhattan Beer started with five EVs, with plans to add more in the future. As technology evolves, the fleet may add newer models, classes, and charging equipment. This is made possible because Omega is technology agnostic, meaning it can integrate with any vehicle or charger. As Manhattan Beer scales, their charging infrastructure can too, without having to replace their existing equipment.

As a father of two kids with asthma, I am honored to be a part of this incredible project.

Juan Corcino, Director of Fleet Operations
Manhattan Beer Distributors

Our products and services

Design and engineering
Charge management