Diesel Class 8 trucks run seemingly tail-to-nose from the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to the Inland Empire in Southern California. There, the cities of Ontario, San Bernardino, Rialto, Riverside and others have seen massive warehouses built for storing and transferring goods bound for retailers and then on to consumers. On their 100+ mile round trip, these trucks burn diesel fuel that damages the ozone, spews out noxious particulates that seek out lungs and eyes along with oxides of nitrogen that help create smog, along with other nasty—and toxic—unpleasantness. On hot days it can be felt weighing you down, your skin is sticky, and is so thick it seems possible to touch.
Almost all of those trucks run on diesel, but change is coming. More and more, especially the smaller “last mile” trucks, are powered by electricity. FedEx, Amazon and others are making the switch to electric power, as are school buses and garbage trucks. Even the U.S. Post Office will be converting a sizeable portion of its fleet of electric vans.
A Significant First Step
A step in the direction of cleaning the air in Southern California has been made by the Joint Electric Truck Scaling Initiative (JETSI). The lead project partner, NFI, a third-party supply chain provider with headquarters in New Jersey. NFI constructed an all-electric port drayage facility in Ontario, California. On what was a dirt lot a couple years ago now stand 38 DC fast chargers sourced through Electrify America. Jim O’Leary, NFI vice president of fleet services, said the “enthusiasm and commitment (of the partners) have been indispensable and together, we are revolutionizing the trucking industry and paving the way towards a cleaner, more sustainable future.”
Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board, one of the project’s state funders, said: “Drayage trucks travel short distances between ports and regional warehouses, making them ideal candidates for zero-emissions technology, and this project in Ontario is an exemplary model for the future of freight transport.”
The JETSI project is the first battery-electric truck project jointly funded by the California Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission. The Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee of the South Coast Air Quality Management District also contributed towards the JETSI project.
