Charging Infrastructure Coming – at a Cost

A national strategy to develop zero-emission freight corridors begins Phase 1, but an industry report stresses it won’t be cheap to electrify the U.S. commercial truck fleet.

Greenlane announced its first commercial EV charging corridor will be along Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. (Greenlane)

It’s no secret that insufficient battery charging infrastructure is an impediment to commercial-vehicle fleets’ electrification efforts. To provide direction and some certainty for stakeholders hindered by the lagging buildout of charging stations, the Biden-Harris Administration released in mid-March what it calls the first-ever national strategy  to guide the development of charging and hydrogen fueling infrastructure for freight trucks from 2024 to 2040.

The first-ever national strategy will guide the development of charging and hydrogen fueling infrastructure for freight trucks from 2024 to 2040, beginning with Phase 1 which establishes priority hubs based on freight volumes. (Joint Office of Energy and Transportation)

The strategy targets key freight corridors, intermodal freight facilities and high-usage ports in four phases, beginning with Phase 1 from 2024 to 2027 which establishes priority hubs based on freight volumes. For example, one of the anticipated “National EV Freight Corridors” is Interstate 70 running through the heart of Ohio, from the West Virginia border through Columbus to the Indiana state line – a route this author travels often and can attest to the high volume of freight traversing it.

Expected to open in late 2024, Greenlane’s Colton flagship site in California is planned to have more than 60 chargers, including 400-kW DCFC as well as 200-kW DCFC options for long-duration and overnight charging. (Greenlane)

The subsequent three phases will connect corridors (2027-2030), expand the network (2030-2035) and complete the national network (2035-2040) for “ubiquitous access.” The strategy also aims to “catalyze public and private investment; and support utility and regulatory planning and action at local, state and regional levels.” This “all-of-government approach” promises to align investments and accelerate the scalable deployment of a ZE-MHDV (zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicle) infrastructure.

Greenlane, the joint venture between Daimler Truck North America, NextEra Energy Resources and BlackRock, announced on March 27 its first commercial EV charging corridor with more than 100 chargers. The 280-mile (450-km) stretch along Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas will begin with initial locations in Colton, Barstow and Baker, California.

Expected to open in late 2024, the Colton flagship site is planned to have more than 60 chargers, including 400-kW direct current fast chargers (DCFC) as well as 200-kW DCFC options for long-duration and overnight charging. The site will be “future-proofed” to accommodate the Megawatt Charging System (MCS) when commercially available and to eventually provide hydrogen refueling for commercial vehicles.

To support full electrification of long-haul commercial vehicles, $57 billion need to be invested into the development of a “sufficiently dense” highway-charging network. (Roland Berger)
The U.S. DOE-funded SuperTruck 2 program explores “alternative technology paths” that can greatly extend the range of future battery-electric commercial vehicles. (NACFE)

“By using a predictive modeling tool to simulate truck traffic and energy flow at the site, we can determine how many chargers are necessary to meet the regional demand based on vehicle characteristics and departure and arrival times for vehicles hauling freight along this corridor,” said Patrick Macdonald-King, CEO of Greenlane. “Our findings indicated that placing the three stations approximately 60 to 90 miles apart would maximize uptime for day-cab drivers by enabling shorter charging sessions at each stop and ultimately allowing customers to move freight confidently without any limitations.”

$1 trillion price tag

Such announcements surely are encouraging news for fleets eager to employ battery-electric and/or fuel-cell electric trucks in the coming years. However, a report released a week after the administration’s national-strategy declaration provided a sobering reality check – it won’t be cheap to electrify the U.S. commercial truck fleet. The Roland Berger report  released by the Clean Freight Coalition (CFC) places a $1 trillion price tag on infrastructure investment alone and indicates what the CFC calls a “massive investment gap” as state and federal policymakers mandate increased adoption rates of battery-electric commercial vehicles.

Phase 2 of the National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor strategy. (Joint Office of Energy and Transportation)
Phase 3 of the National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor strategy. (Joint Office of Energy and Transportation)

The study states that fleets and charge point operators will need to invest $620 billion into charging infrastructure, which includes chargers, site infrastructure and utility service costs. Utilities would need to invest $370 billion to upgrade their grid networks to meet the demands of just commercial vehicles. To support full electrification of long-haul commercial vehicles, $57 billion need to be invested into the development of a “sufficiently dense highway-charging network,” which is constrained by the pace of transmission grid infrastructure buildout, according to the report.

“Electrification means focusing on the vehicle segments that are easier first [i.e., medium-duty segment]; it means that we have to look at how fleets operate and potentially adjust; it means that we need better cooperation and planning across industries and governments; and it requires an openness to alternative technology paths to decarbonizing the heavy-duty segment,” said Roland Berger senior partner Dr. Wilfried Aulbur.

Many of those possible “alternative technology paths” are detailed regularly on this site. For example, new low-carbon fuels – and particularly hydrogen – are the answer until batteries and the charging infrastructure get better, concluded experts speaking in the “Heavy & Medium-Duty Technologies” panel session at SAE International’s 2024 Government/Industry Meeting.

Phase 4 of the National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor strategy. (Joint Office of Energy and Transportation)

The U.S. DOE-funded SuperTruck 2 program that began in 2016 has demonstrated that advances in aerodynamics and lightwight materials, among other areas, can have a significant impact on Class 8 trucks now, as is the case with the all-new Volvo VNL. Many tractor-trailer system efficiency gains are universally applicable to all powertrain choices, a NACFE (North American Council for Freight Efficiency) report  that examined the program pointed out.

“Future trucks will build from technologies demonstrated in SuperTruck 2 to achieve increased range and freight capacity. For example, a 100% scale improvement in FTE (freight ton efficiency) easily demonstrated by SuperTruck 2 teams through a range of vehicle technology improvements could make a 300-mile BEV capable of going 600 miles,” the NACFE report said.

That kind of range would go a long way toward connecting a nationwide charging network very much in its nascency.