Neighborhoods and highways near the State’s busiest ports will soon benefit from an influx of 44 heavy-duty Class 8 zero-emission trucks thanks to CARB’s California Collaborative Advanced Technology Drayage Truck Demonstration Project.
“This is the largest deployment of zero-emission Class 8 trucks in North America,” said Air Pollution Specialist Earl Landberg, who manages the project for CARB. He stressed the importance of truck “original engine manufacturers” (OEMs) who are playing a critical role.
“What they learn from this project can move directly into the assembly line. The potential for scalability and commercial deployment of this technology is immense. Most OEMs by 2020 will sell Class ZEVs commercially.”
Drayage trucks load, unload and transport cargo at California's ports and intermodal rail facilities, playing a key role in the State’s economy. The main goal of the project is to accelerate adoption and commercialization of battery-electric and plug-in hybrid drayage trucks, and to provide vital feedback to the manufacturers who will monitor their use and performance and make changes in production as needed. Local communities will also be able to experience first-hand the advantages of these clean vehicles, which will help reduce key criteria pollutants, greenhouse gases, petroleum usage and toxic pollution where reductions are needed most.
Intrastate freight transport is a major economic engine for California, but also accounts for about half of toxic diesel particulate matter, 45 percent of nitrogen oxides (NOX) that form ozone and fine particulate matter in the atmosphere, and six percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the State.
To help fund the more than $40 million project, CARB awarded $23.7 million Cap-and-Trade dollars to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which in turn partnered up for the remaining $17 million with air districts in the Bay Area, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Joaquin Valley. Together they expect to demonstrate the efficacy of these state-of-the art trucks, which they soon hope will be commonplace.
Industry partners include BAE Systems, BYD, Kenworth Trucks/Peterbilt, TransPower, Volvo Trucks North America, LA County Metro, and San Diego Gas and Electric.
The lucky entities that will be using the new trucks are the California Cartage Company, California Multimodal Inc., Central Valley Ag/Pinnacle, Devine Intermodal, GSC Logistics, Knight Transportation, Pasha, Terminalift, Three Rivers Trucking, Total Transportation Systems Inc., and the United States Navy.
Two trucks are now in service, a Volvo in Oakland with GSC Logistics, and a BYD vehicle working for Total Transportation Systems Inc. in the Port of LA/LB. New vehicles will be phased in through March 2020, when the project will be complete.