Forum Mobility Volvo VNR electric trucks at a charging station. (Forum Mobility)
A nonprofit coalition plans to buy as many as 500 Class 8 battery-electric trucks and lease them to smaller drayage fleets and owner-operators.
The first customers are set to be carriers operating at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — the largest two ports in the U.S. by import volume.
Climate United Fund intends to spend up to $250 million to purchase the Class 8 trucks, it said. On Oct. 29, the nonprofit issued a request for proposals to truck makers interested in selling it battery-electric trucks.
An announcement on the identity of the original equipment manufacturers participating in the program is expected in January or February, a Climate United spokeswoman said Nov. 12. The trucks must be bought and built within three years of the RFP being issued.
The nonprofit, which received a $6.97 billion award from the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Clean Investment Fund, said it will be prioritizing vehicles with domestically made parts and assembled in the U.S.
Among the trucks that could fit that remit are Freightliner’s eCascadia; Volvo Trucks North America’s VNR Electric and upcoming battery-electric configurations of the redesigned flagship VNL semi; Kenworth’s T680E; Peterbilt’s Model 579EV; and Tesla’s Semi — all of which are or will be built in the U.S.
All of California’s drayage fleet of about 33,000 trucks must be zero-emission by 2035.
“Electric drayage trucks cost less to operate, but high upfront costs make it difficult for independent owner-operators and small fleets to transition to all-electric,” said Beth Bafford, CEO of Climate United.
“Through tax credits, incentives and attractive financing, we are significantly reducing a cost barrier to sustain small businesses and help them lead the transition to electric vehicles,” added Bafford.
Drayage fleets’ ability to afford investments in battery-electric trucks or their hydrogen fuel-cell electric counterparts is also being hampered by a hyper-competitive truck marketplace keeping a cap on rates, according to a study by transportation management solutions software provider PortPro.
Competition is also growing from on-dock railroads at a time when rates could be finding support from record import volumes, especially at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, noted PortPro’s second State of Drayage study, released Nov. 12.
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California trucking advocates have bemoaned both the cost of the trucks and a paucity of charging options if the state’s electrification goals are to be met, but this latest initiative is being welcomed.
“For zero-emission battery-electric truck deployments to scale, cost has to be at the forefront of any discussion,” said Matt Schrap, Harbor Trucking Association CEO.
“HTA appreciates innovative solutions that can help support fleets in this push for zero-emission. It is always encouraging to see a program that reduces upfront costs by pairing both infrastructure and the truck together. They are inexorably intertwined, you can’t have one without the other and when the two are combined, it solves a lot of challenges for carriers,” he added.
Climate United is teaming up with heavy-duty truck charging specialist Forum Mobility to offer charging meeting the needs of smaller fleet operators.
Forum is building a network of staffed and secure electric truck charging depots at California ports and along common freight routes.
“80% of California’s drayage registry is comprised of small fleets, and it’s our job to make sure the transition to zero-emissions leaves no one behind, that fleets of all sizes have the opportunity to prosper,” said Forum CEO Matt LeDucq.
In May, Forum began construction of a charging depot at the Port of Long Beach that will be able to service up to 200 battery-electric drayage trucks a day.
Construction of the facility — which will have 19 dual-port 360 kW chargers and six 360 kW single-dispenser chargers, and be able to charge 44 trucks simultaneously — is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach account for more than 30% of all container imports to the U.S.
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