As California Leads Heavy-Duty Charging Infrastructure Efforts, Other States Will Have to Follow Suit to Scale Further Growth in Fleet Electrification

By Adhish Luitel | 4Q 2024 | IN-7586

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Last week, Voltera announced that it recently acquired two new Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure development sites in California. This acquisition expanded Voltera's network to 22 locations across the country. Both of the newly acquired sites are strategically positioned. The first site is located just 4 miles from the Port of Long Beach and 5 miles from the Port of Los Angeles. Voltera believes that it is an ideal location to support a large amount of electric drayage operations. This site can facilitate up to 30 electrified stalls and has already established a power supply of up to 5 Megawatts (MW) from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The second site at West Sacramento is positioned at the intersection of two interstate highways (I-5 and I-80). The plan with this site is to operate up to 100 electrified charging stalls with up to a MW of charging power. Once operational, the West Sacramento site will become Voltera's largest commercial Electric Vehicle (EV) charging depot. In addition to grants and incentives, Voltera's new investments are funded by its US$150 million expansion that was kicked off earlier this year.

This is only a few major heavy-duty charging infrastructure announcements from this year. Below are some notable 2024 deployments:

• Terawatt Infrastructure: Earlier in October, Terawatt Infrastructure announced the opening of its first full-build charging site, which will serve light-duty fleets in high-traffic areas of Los Angeles. The site is located close to the Los Angeles International Airport, and it hosts 29 Direct Current (DC) fast chargers. The site also hosts advanced automated features that include robust data infrastructure and proactive and preventive site maintenance. Fleet operators can leverage real-time data insights, energy usage and scheduling insights, remote monitoring and alerts, and ongoing support to streamline electric fleet management.
• Greenlane Corridor: Truck manufacturers have also reacted to the lack of charging infrastructure by partnering to build more charging facilities. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) Daimler, Volvo, and Navistar have teamed up to create the "Greenlane" charging corridor project. The plan is to install more than 100 chargers across the I-15 highway stretch between Last Vegas and Los Angeles, and start running them by the end of the year. In addition to committing to this project, the three OEMs also announced the founding of the Powering America's Commercial Transportation (PACT) coalition. This coalition is meant to be a "collective voice" to streamline the construction of refueling infrastructure for medium and heavy duty ZEVs. The group, which had 24 founding members, including Amazon, Cummins, and WattEV, aims to convince lawmakers and stakeholders of the urgency of the situation.
• NFI Industries: Logistics company NFI Industries earlier this year opened its first electric charging depot near its Ontario, California warehouse. This depot includes 38 360 Kilowatt (kW) high-speed chargers. According to NFI's leadership, the plan by the end of the year is to have 1 MW of solar and 7 Megawatt Hours (MWh) of battery in storage, operating in a microgrid-like manner. To enable further resiliency, NFI Industries partnered with Electrify America to leverage solar and battery storage.
• Maersk-Prologis Partnership: This is the biggest deployment so far. Prologis partnered with shipping and logistics giant Maersk to launch Southern California's largest heavy-duty EV charging depot, located near the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The companies say the depot is powered by the nation's largest electric truck microgrid and can charge 96 electric trucks simultaneously. Due to grid limitations, Maersk incorporated hydrogen generators and battery storage to provide a peak of 9 MW of charging power. Maersk's subsidiary, Performance Team, will be using its fleet of Volvo VNR electric trucks, which it said has a range of 240 miles and can charge up to 80% in 90 minutes.

The following chart from ABI Research's Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure market data (MD-EVCI-24) shows North America's DC charging point stock by power. DC charging stations are significantly faster and more efficient than Alternating Current (AC) chargers, so they are used a lot more when it comes to heavy-duty EV fleets. Ultra-fast DC charging points are the largest growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of over 37% between 2024 and 2035.

Thanks to regulations such as the Advanced Clean Trucks Rule (ACT) rule, California leads the nation in heavy duty EV charging infrastructure deployments, hosting nearly 30% of all U.S. public EV chargers. It is evident that other states and regions such as the Midwest, New York, and Texas are lagging behind. As California has laid out the blueprint, the following steps could be taken by other states to accelerate heavy-duty EV charging infrastructure growth:

• Incentives as Drivers: In addition to regulatory efforts, California has fostered significant funding to support the growing heavy-duty EV infrastructure through effective programs like the Energy Infrastructure Incentives for Zero-Emission Commercial Vehicles (EnergIIZE Commercial Vehicles) and the California Air Resources Board's (CARB) initiatives to provide grants for EV projects and subsidies for installing chargers. States should utilize funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which has allocated US$7.5 billion toward EV charging networks. State-level grant programs such as EnergIIZE could be created.
• Public-Private Partnerships: Collaborations with EV-focused companies, OEMs, and logistics firms can support heavy-duty EV infrastructure. The state of New York is working with companies like EVgo to expand charging infrastructure, and similar steps could be taken.
• Focus on High-Impact Zones: Deployments in California have been strategically positioned near key logistics hubs such as the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, as well as interstate highways (like I-5, I-80, and I-10) to maximize impact. A similar approach needs to be taken in other states. Deployment focus should be on highways, urban centers, and transportation hubs.
• Encourage Joint Ventures for Resource Sharing: Collaborations such as the Greenlane project show how pooling resources can enable large-scale infrastructure projects. They can streamline both deployments and scalability of EV charging networks. Subsidies could be given to encourage similar initiatives.
• Prioritize Integrated Renewable Energy Systems: Initiatives that combine renewable energy such as the NFI Industries and Electrify America partnership could be encouraged. By combining green energy sources with electrification efforts, projects like these can align with state and nationwide emission reduction goals. In addition, EV infrastructure like this can minimize dependency on the grid.
• Foster a Culture of Workforce Training: States could also follow California's lead and invest in training programs dedicated to installing and maintaining EV infrastructure. This could serve two purposes-create job opportunities by upskilling available workforce, and ensure sufficient resources are being gathered to enable increased electrification efforts. In addition to private entities and trucking OEMs, states could also involve technology institutions and universities, which would create a wider engagement on a community-level.