Is California dreaming?
Is California dreaming?
California has been blazing a trail in e-mobility – particularly in the adoption and promotion of electric trucks and vehicles. Bearing this in mind, WILL SHIERS travels to the Golden State to uncover the experiences of pioneering operators in the trucking industry.
It is often said that where the United States leads, the world follows. If that’s going to be the case with electric trucks, then we can learn some lessons from the experiences of two leading US companies.
CASE STUDY 1 – NFI
With close to 5,000 tractor units, 14,000 trailers, and 70 million square feet (about 6.5 million square metres) of warehousing, National Freight Industries (NFI) is one of North America’s largest third-party logistics providers. Since acquiring California Cartage (Cal Cartage) in 2017, it has also become one of the nation’s biggest drayage providers.
“Our purchase of Cal Cartage first started the discussion around electric trucks,” explains Brian Webb, NFI’s president of port services, when we catch up with him at the company’s Ontario, California office.
“It was one of the biggest drayage providers across North America, and had a humongous presence in California. The state is at the forefront of… wanting to reduce carbon emissions. Coupled to that, the incentives California provides to reduce your carbon output, and the services Cal Cartage was providing, meant it was clear that we needed to invest in electric truck technology,” he continues.
These are sentiments echoed by Jim O’Leary, NFI’s vice president of assets, who adds: “What was happening in that space at that time was almost like the perfect storm. California was starting to regulate and the technology was there. We went to the OEMs and told them, ‘If you’re going to start developing projects, then we want to be part of them’.”
NFI uses three truck suppliers, Volvo being one of the more prominent with between 35 and 40% penetration, and by coincidence, in 2019 the truck maker was about to embark on the Volvo LIGHTS project, which would see it putting its first battery-powered trucks into real fleets. Under the scheme, NFI took delivery of a pair of VNR Electric tractors.
O’Leary explains that there were one or two initial teething problems, with the 110-mile (177-km) range from the four-battery trucks being a particular issue. “We said that wouldn’t work, so they immediately designed a six-battery-pack truck to meet that need,” he tells us.
The scheme was a resounding success, giving NFI the confidence to invest in more electric trucks. When we visited the company in 2024, it had 40 electric tractors on its Californian drayage fleet: a mix of Volvo VNRs and Freightliner eCascadias. By the end of 2024, this rose to 90, of which two-thirds were Volvos, giving it one of the largest zero-tailpipe-emission fleets in the US.
As previously mentioned, there are various pots of funding available for the purchase of electric trucks and chargers in California. In the case of the Volvos, NFI has gone down three separate routes.
Half of the initial 60 trucks are being deployed with funding support from California’s Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP). This project was launched by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to accelerate commercialisation of battery-electric trucks, and is provided on a first-come, first-served basis.
A further 20 trucks have been part-funded by the Joint Electric Truck Scaling Initiative (JETSI), which is led by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) and jointly financed by CARB and the California Energy Commission (CEC).
The final 10 trucks from this initial order are part of the SWITCH-ON project, a grant to Volvo Trucks to deploy battery-electric trucks in Southern California for regional freight distribution and drayage. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Targeted Air Shed Grant Program is providing the funding.
While the incentives reduce the purchase cost, there is still a significant difference between the price of electric and diesel-powered trucks.
As complicated as all this sounds, according to O’Leary, purchasing the trucks was actually the easy part. “When we first started, I just cared about the trucks,” he explains. “Just give me a truck and we’ll plug it in and go… At least that’s what I thought! But what we soon realised is that it’s all about the infrastructure. That’s where the rubber meets the road.”
NFI’s electric truck investment coincided with a decision to move its drayage team from Chino several miles north to Ontario. It owns a warehouse in the area, which is where the new offices have been built. Meanwhile, a four-acre site was purchased next door and earmarked for electric truck charging. “We are installing 38 350-kW dispensers with 19 power cabinets, and each one can support two chargers. These are capable of charging two trucks each, so the power will be split,” O’Leary tells us.
Now for the really clever bit: NFI has also installed a pair of batteries, giving it 7.7MWh of storage. This means it can draw from the grid off-peak, avoiding the expensive peak-load period from 4pm to 9pm. It has also installed 1MWh of solar panels on the next-door building’s roof.
O’Leary relates that the whole process was fraught with obstacles. While it was initially supposed to have been completed by the end of 2022, in reality it was not up and running until August 2024. Prior to this, NFI had 10 dispensers in operation, powered by a temporary service, but now that all 38 dispensers are in operation, it has the ability to bring in 7MW of power. To put that into perspective, this is roughly the amount of electricity needed to power the Empire State Building.
“Each truck will use 400 to 600kW of power a day. So, two of them will use the same amount of power as a normal house for an entire month,” he reveals.
While this impressive set-up represents a significant six-figure investment, NFI’s cost has largely been limited to buying the trucks and the land, and preparing the facilities. In terms of putting in the chargers, batteries, and solar panels, these have been the subject of external funding.
“In California, the infrastructure side is supported by multiple programmes,” says Webb. In this instance the majority of the funding has come courtesy of CARB, CEC, and South Coast AQMD.
Despite financial assistance, electrifying the drayage fleet has not been a cheap process. In fact, the entire project, including the real estate acquisition, has cost in the region of US$45 million. O’Leary explains that while the financial incentives have certainly helped (and, indeed, have made the project viable), there is still a significant gap between the actual cost of operating electric trucks and the incentives provided. He confirms that where possible, NFI will strive to minimise any cost increase to its customers during the switch.
“This is vital if we’re going to continue down this path,” he says. “Now, more than ever, our customers are demanding that we do these things [run electric trucks], but they aren’t necessarily willing to pay for them. Customers have zero emission targets, but due to the cost, they are looking at other parts of their supply chain to reduce emissions ahead of transportation. If regulators heard this, perhaps they would apply the brake pedal a little.”
Jessica Cordero, NFI’s VP of drayage operations, confirms that up until recently it has been a struggle to get customers to pay extra to have their products transported in electric trucks. “They have been willing to try it, but without any additional fees,” she says, but adds that this is starting to change, thanks to South Coast AQMD’s Warehouse Actions and Investments to Reduce Emissions (WAIRE) scheme. This complicated legislation financially penalises companies for the number of diesel truck visits to their warehouses. “Now customers are realising that if they pay a little over here, they won’t pay as much over there,” she tells us.
The whole project has certainly represented a steep learning curve for the entire NFI management team. “You have to hold the hand of the project all the way, whether you’re deploying two trucks or 50,” says O’Leary. “A lot of resources are being sucked up: lawyers, real estate group, financing, fleet, operations… Everybody needs to be all-in, and the partners too. It’s not for the faint of heart!”
That said, all those involved are convinced that it’s been worth the effort, and are confident of reaping the rewards moving forward. “Having had conversations with customers, we are in an absolutely great position to continue to grow our business,” says Webb. “The work the team has done at the ground level is paying dividends for us. We have absolutely made the right choice.”
ENVIRONMENTAL SAVINGS
Alexa Branco, NFI director of sustainability, says switching the Californian drayage fleet from diesel to electric ticks a lot of environmental boxes. NFI anticipates making the following savings with the JETSI project:
- Around 4,400 metric tonnes of greenhouse gases (GHGs) reduced annually.
- Around 45 tonnes of weighted criteria pollutants reduced annually.
- 75 million diesel gallons (2.3 million imperial gallons, or 10.46 million litres) to be displaced in the next eight years.
- Prior to the JETSI project, NFI’s battery-electric demonstration and pilot fleets have collectively covered more than two million miles (3.2 million kilometres). As a result, NFI has already eliminated the equivalent of 307,692 gallons of diesel consumption (256,207 imperial gallons, or 1.17 million litres), and 3,415 metric tonnes of GHG emissions.
RANGE
Volvo claims that its VNR Electric tractors have a maximum range of up to 250 miles (402km), and NFI’s trucks are capable of two 80-mile (129-km) round trips to the Port of Los Angeles or the Port of Long Beach every day. But, as Jessica Cordero, NFI’s VP of drayage operations, explains, this is dependent on weight, temperature, traffic conditions, and waiting times. If required, additional charging takes place at a third-party site in Long Beach.
LIGHTS
NFI started its electromobility journey with Volvo Trucks in 2019 as part of Volvo LIGHTS (Low Impact Green Heavy Transport Solutions), a three-year project that brought together 14 public and private partners to design and implement a blueprint for the rollout of battery-electric trucks.
“CARB had some funds, and it wanted to invest some of this money into a research project,” explains Keith Brandis, vice president partnerships and strategic solutions at Volvo Trucks North America. “They wanted to know how you put zero emission trucks on the road and make a difference.”
“But they didn’t just want to see an electric truck driving from A to B; they wanted to see how the end-to-end works,” adds Peter Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Trucks North America. “They wanted schools involved for training technicians, and ports, haulers, dealers, and charging.”
Voorhoeve explains that having won US$45m of funding, which Volvo Trucks then matched, 30 VNR Electric trucks went into operation with operators in Southern California (including two with NFI). “At Volvo, we invest heavily in sustainability,” he says. “That project gave us the opportunity to test our electric product, which proved very successful for regional haul.”
He adds that CARB insisted from day one that the truck would need to be commercialised, and on 3 December 2020 it put the VNR Electric into production.
CASE STUDY 2 – GRILEY AIR FREIGHT
Located next to Los Angeles’ LAX Airport, Griley Air Freight is a fourth-generation family-run trucking company specialising in air freight. “My great-grandfather started trucking in our family in 1949, and this was his first-ever job,” says CEO Katie Griley, who took over the day-to-day running of the company from her father Tom two years ago. She’s pointing to a giant invoice printed on the Griley Air Freight boardroom wall. It was to move 360 Firestone tyres to car manufacturer Studebaker, and paid US$14.42.
These days, the company moves products at a far higher value, working for some of the big worldwide freight-forwarding companies and transporting both Apple and Microsoft products.
Assignments are collected from and delivered to LAX. Most product is stored in its secure 32,000-square-foot (2,973-m2) warehouse prior to distribution to customers in the LA region, whereas other loads are shipped directly to customers’ warehouses.
Although airports aren’t considered drayage, Katie knows that it’s only a matter of time before regulations relating to the use of electric trucks at LAX will be introduced. With this in mind, two years ago she decided to get some valuable experience with the vehicles, and added a Volvo VNR Electric to the company’s 90-strong (mainly Freightliner) fleet. The truck has been leased from Zeem Solutions, which also takes care of the charging.
“Volvo approached us, and we never even looked at anyone else,” explains Katie. “We run a lot of Freightliners, but the eCascadia didn’t come out until after we had acquired the Volvo. Anyway, we are very happy with Volvo.”
So happy, in fact, that in 2023 Griley Air Freight took delivery of another VNR Electric. Unlike the first truck, which only had four batteries and a 150-mile (241-km) range, this one had two additional batteries on the external cab wall, increasing the range considerably.
While this second truck was purchased outright, the company still chose to partner with Zeem Solutions for charging. “They offer parking and charging at their location just down the street,” Katie tells us. “It’s been seamless. The drivers drop them off and go home in their personal cars, which have been left there during the day. Zeem then charges the trucks overnight and takes care of everything.”
While one is leased and the other purchased outright, both trucks have been part-funded by grants. Katie describes the process of applying for funding as “tough”, but believes it needs to be that way to ensure that the money goes to deserving companies. She says Griley Air Freight was advised by Santa Monica-based clean transport and energy consultants GNA (now a TRC company), but also relied on the expertise of supplying Volvo dealer TEC Equipment.
“If those grants weren’t in place, this would never have happened,” admits Tom, who is shocked to learn how small some European grants are in comparison.
The trucks, which are coupled to tandem-axle semi-trailers wrapped in customers’ liveries, do between two and four runs to the airport per day. They pick up international customs freight orders and deliver them to customers or to the Griley Air Freight warehouse.
Loaded to 40,000lb (18 tonnes), the older truck does about 100 miles (161km) per day, whereas the six-battery-pack VNR Electric can manage double that or more at full payload, allowing it to be double-shifted.
The electric trucks have been well received by the public; Katie explains that as part of the infrastructure grant subsidy requirements, Griley Air Freight was required to seek support from the local community. “People appreciated what we were trying to do, and we received a lot of letters of support,” she says.
They weren’t the only ones to appreciate the initiative, with the trucks also receiving full support from customers. Consequently, Griley Air Freight has been able to pass on the increased costs associated with running electric trucks by charging customers a higher freight rate. “Of course, we might not be lucky enough to be able to do that in the future,” admits Katie, referring to a time when rivals also operate electric trucks. “But for now, we have something to offer that our competitors don’t, and we have even gained two new clients as a direct result.”
When we visited Griley Air Freight last year, news had just reached the team that Korean Airlines would start giving loading/unloading priority to zero-tailpipe-emission trucks. With waits of two to four hours commonplace at LAX, this was welcome news indeed. “This is something we weren’t expecting, and it could save us US$100 per trip to the airport,” reckons Tom. “If more airlines follow suit, this will be a big cost saving for us,” adds Katie.
Griley Air Freight will ramp up its electric fleet in the coming years, in line with the legislation: according to the ACT rule, 10% of its fleet will need to be electric by 2027. With this in mind, a third battery-powered truck will be added to the fleet later this year, with more to follow.
Although happy with its partnership with Zeem, as the fleet expands the company will take the charging in-house. It has had infrastructure grant money approved and will install six dual-port chargers at its depot in the next couple of years.
“We have had to learn a lot very quickly, but we are eager to be a part of the sustainability movement, and we plan to keep on trucking,” concludes Katie.
DRIVER OPINIONS
Griley Air Freight put considerable thought into which of its drivers it wanted to put in the electric trucks. “We intentionally chose drivers who might be more receptive to them,” explains Katie Griley. “For instance, one of them drives a Tesla.”
The drivers in question are Sam Mauro and Mario Benavides, and although both admit to having had some reservations to start with, they are now thrilled with the Volvos.
“I didn’t know if it would have the power,” admits Mauro, “but it does, and I love it. I wouldn’t go back to diesel now, as they’re too shaky. When I have a full load on, it feels good – nice and smooth.”
These are sentiments echoed by Benavides, who reckons some of the other drivers are jealous. “On the hill to Ontario I was loaded with 19 pallets, and thought I’d be stuck in the inside lane with my flashers on, but instead, I was passing diesels,” he says.
MEET KATIE GRILEY
Although she comes from a long line of hauliers, Katie says it was never assumed that she would follow her father into the family business. “After college I asked my dad for a job because I wanted to discover what we did,” she tells us. “He never really spoke about it much when he came home from work.”
Her first job was dispatching at one of Griley Air Freight’s larger key accounts at the time, DHL Forwarding. After a couple of years of dispatching she was managing the account and overseeing 250-plus local pickups and deliveries per day, holding driver meetings, and creating relationships with clients.
“Since then, I have always been aggressive, working my way up to the top, and Tom has been incredibly supportive,” she says.
INTRODUCING ZEEM
Founded by Paul Gioupis in 2017 with the aim of making EVs affordable to commercial fleets, Zeem Solutions is going from strength to strength. In addition to leasing an array of different electric vans and trucks, it also provides a full charging service.
“Some companies get challenged building their own infrastructure. They discover that it takes a couple of years to set up charging, and that they may have to do it multiple times. So instead, they may decide to come to Zeem, and allow us to take care of everything for them,” explains Gioupis.
He says that running electric trucks is a different way of doing business, and fleets often want to assess whether it works for them. “They are used to starting off at their HQ, so using Zeem is a bit of a change for them, so we make it as easy as possible and optimally locate close to the warehouses and airports,” he continues.
Zeem currently operates two sites in Southern California, with four more sites planned. We called on its two-acre LAX facility, where Griley Air Freight charges its trucks. The site has a 7-MWh capacity, which according to Gioupis is the equivalent of seven Walmart stores. This feeds 56 dispensers on 28 dual-port DC fast chargers, as well as 18 slower chargers. In addition to servicing airport car rental businesses, it takes care of 11 truck fleets and is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
LEGISLATION IN CALIFORNIA
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is a California government agency with the aim of reducing air pollution. While it does concern itself with CO2 emissions and global warming, its main emphasis is on air quality.
Formed in 1967 – when California became the only state permitted by the federal government to enact its own automotive emissions regulations – over the decades CARB has introduced a plethora of rules and regulations, all aimed at improving the quality of the air that its residents breathe. It has recently turned its attention to trucks, introducing some of the most stringent regulations yet.
In 2020, CARB introduced the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule, which requires OEMs to sell an increasing percentage of zero-tailpipe-emission trucks as the years progress.
Then, in 2023, it switched its attention from supply to demand, announcing details of its Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) programme. This was a series of phased regulations, which will culminate in all trucks operating in the state producing zero tailpipe emissions by 2045. The proposed first stage, which was set to be implemented on 31 December 2023, would have seen a ban on new internal combustion-engined heavy trucks being added to the state’s drayage registry. In other words, operators purchasing new trucks to transport containers and bulk loads to and from California’s seaports and intermodal railyards would have had to invest in zero-tailpipe-emission trucks.
The problem with that plan, however, was the limited choice of electric or fuel cell heavy-duty trucks on sale. What’s more, like in Europe, the vehicles are eye-wateringly expensive, as is the provision of charging. While there are healthy grants available in California for purchasing both the vehicles and chargers, application processes are complicated and time-consuming.
Unsurprisingly, the California Trucking Association wasn’t happy with the situation. It filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the imminent regulations, declaring that CARB had a “make-believe view” of what could be achieved with the current technology and infrastructure. The backlash had the desired effect, and at the 11th hour CARB withdrew the ruling.
As of now (anticipating opposition from the incoming Trump administration), CARB has withdrawn its requests for federal approval to enforce stricter emissions regulations on diesel-powered trains and semi-trucks. This decision halts short-term efforts to phase out sales of new diesel trucks and buses.
The implementation of the ACF programme is now in a state of flux, due to various legal and administrative challenges. CARB – which continues to promote zero-emission vehicles – is said to be reassessing its approach to implementing the ACF regulations.
Photo credit: Michelle Shiers, JETSI Project and Matt Petit Photography
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