The Freightliner eCascadia and eM2 are two of the first electric semi-trailers to hit the freeways for testing. Hide caption courtesy of Daimler Trucks North America
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Courtesy of Daimler Trucks North America
The Freightliner eCascadia and eM2 are two of the first electric semi-trailers to hit the freeways for testing.
Courtesy of Daimler Trucks North America
In yet another statewide move to combat climate change, California will require automakers to sell more electric trucks starting in 2024. The measure, which was unanimously approved by the California Air Resources Board on Thursday, says that all new trucks will be sold by 2045 The state should be emission-free.
The new regulation aims to improve air quality and help the state achieve its aggressive climate goals. At least seven other states and the District of Columbia can follow suit.
Some industry groups refused to move, but a growing number of automakers have announced plans to manufacture electric vehicles or trucks. And as a sign of the advancement of battery technology, this emerging market even includes large electrical systems – the heavy trucks that transport goods across the country.
At Daimler Trucks North America’s headquarters in Portland, Oregon, Jason Gray helped build the company’s first 38 medium and heavy electric vehicles. The Freightliner eCascadia is a Class 8 electric trailer, as big as it is, and yet it hardly makes a sound when Gray starts it to demonstrate.
“What you are going to hear now are sounds that all the other trucks make, but you will never hear them because the engine is running,” he says. The noises include the brake valves and a whistling noise from the air compressor.
Around a dozen customers are testing these trucks across the country, including logistics company NFI Industries.
“The drivers love them,” says Bill Bliem overseeing truck fleets for NFI. “They just have great things to say about them – how quiet they are, how they don’t smell like diesel when they come home.”
However, there are many problems for Bliem before he can switch his fleets from diesel to electric. He doesn’t yet know how much the first electric Semis will cost when they hit the market, and there aren’t many places to charge them right now.
Then there is the mileage. Daimler’s eCascadia can travel approximately 250 miles before it needs to be charged.
“We have an average of 300-350 [miles] Round trip, and we believe electricity will get there, “says Bliem.” He is not here yet. “
Bliem’s company is currently testing Daimler’s trucks on shorter routes in Southern California’s Inland Empire, where it is shipping products between warehouses and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Bliem hopes to save money on gasoline and maintenance later, but that doesn’t happen yet.
“At the moment there is no financial advantage,” he says. “Being a sustainable company is our biggest push for this one. We hope the financial benefits are on the back.”
Some days, more than 1,000 diesel trucks per hour travel on shipping routes between distribution warehouses and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in Southern California. Image caption with the kind permission of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice
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Courtesy of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice
Some days, more than 1,000 diesel trucks per hour travel on shipping routes between distribution warehouses and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in Southern California.
Courtesy of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice
A growing logistics industry makes air pollution worse
Anthony Victoria of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice says the communities that NFI trucks drive through in Southern California live in what he calls the “diesel killing zone” of air pollution.
Much of the pollution is caused by diesel trucks delivering products to distribution warehouses.
“We’re seen as America’s shopping cart in many ways,” says Victoria. “There are high rates of asthma, high rates of cancer and high rates of diabetes in our communities, and all of this could be traced back to the industry that exists here, the logistics industry.”
Victoria’s group has counted more than 1,000 diesel trucks an hour, mostly driving through Latino neighborhoods.
“That builds up over time and it really makes people sick,” he says. “And unfortunately much of it is environmental racism.”
According to Victoria, California’s electric vehicle mandate could help save lives in these communities. The state estimates it could prevent 900 premature deaths, bring $ 9 million in public health benefits and remove 17 million tons of climate-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
However, industry groups say it’s too early for California to hire electric trucks as it’s unclear who will buy them and if there are enough charging points for long haul. They also deny the decision to move the rule forward while the coronavirus pandemic has brought many manufacturers to a halt.
“There is not a single commercially available high-performance electric truck in California today,” says Allen Schaeffer of the Diesel Technology Forum, which represents many of the largest truck manufacturers, including Daimler.
“At this point there is no commercial market for this technology. And frankly, there isn’t much demand for it in the trucking industry,” he says.
According to Schaeffer, new diesel engines and options for renewable diesel can also drastically reduce emissions. These technologies are now available without the need to build a new infrastructure.
In the Portland warehouse where Daimler is building its first electric vehicles, workers wire refrigerator-sized cooling batteries onto trailers and chassis. So far, these prototypes have all been made by hand. However, Michael Scheib, director of the Daimler Electric Mobility Group, says this small production will be relocated to the company’s manufacturing facility at the end of next year.
Daimler currently produces 500 to 600 trucks per day, with the company’s diesel Cascadia truck making up a large portion of the heavy-duty truck market. Despite the new mandate from California, it is unclear how many electric versions of this truck they will produce at their plant, according to Scheib.
“The entire industry still has a lot to learn about electrification,” he says. “We have our view that this is going to happen, you know, the future is electrifying. The question is when.”
NPR’s Jennifer Ludden contributed to this story.
