NASEO to Work with Colorado, Missouri, and Tennessee to Support Freight Electrification

NASEO will work with State Energy Offices in three states - Colorado, Missouri, and Tennessee - over the next year to develop action plans for on-road freight electrification and charging infrastructure buildout at high-priority locations, and will engage key stakeholders to solicit input on plan development. NASEO will also work with each state to support additional freight electrification planning activities, including:

• Colorado - supporting a Medium- and Heavy-Duty (M/HD) Charging Hub Network Siting Analysis; a Round 2 Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program application; a new statewide M/HD Corridor Charging incentive offering; and best practices sharing around fleet technical assistance programs;
• Missouri - distinguishing between "community" and "corridor" charging needs; establishing an alternative fuels planning process to address the Minimum Practical Alternative Fuel Freight Network; identifying actionable options for the state, as well as county and city governments; and identifying pathways to implementation of the action items;
• Tennessee - updating the Drive Electric Tennessee (DET) Roadmap with a new M/HD EV and Infrastructure section, including freight-focused action items; stakeholder engagement with local fleets and potential site hosts; and a Round 2 CFI Discretionary Grant Program application.

Together, these three states represent over 869 million tons of freight moved by truck each year, and all three include at least one priority corridor and/or hub identified under Phase 1 of the National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy. Phase 1 identifies corridors with some of the greatest opportunities to support early introduction of zero-emission M/HD vehicles while promoting cost savings for commercial fleets, cleaner air for communities, and strategic investments for infrastructure companies and electric utilities. Phase 1 infrastructure deployments are primarily intended to support first-mover fleets looking to adopt battery-electric vehicles in Class 3-7 local and regional return-to-base operations, such as first- and last-mile delivery. These charging hubs will serve as foundational elements for zero-emission regional- (e.g., port drayage) and long-haul use cases longer term.

NASEO's Freight Electrification work is informed by an Advisory Group comprised of representatives from key states, freight vehicle OEMs, charging station providers, utilities, leading researchers, fleets, and others. As part of this effort, NASEO is also engaging freight electrification experts via a virtual discussion series to provide foundational knowledge to state policymakers and offer policy and program tools to support the transition to an electrified freight system.

This effort builds on existing transportation electrification activities to support dialogues with key players such as policymakers, utilities, on-road freight operators, and infrastructure providers, to explore options for addressing barriers to on-road freight electrification and transportation electrification broadly.

To learn more about NASEO's Freight Electrification initiative, please visit: https://naseo.org/issues/transportation/freight.