Electric Truck Charging Stations Needed to Meet California’s Ambitious ZEV Targets
By Jon LeSage
Long Beach, California (ZeroRig.com) – California’s Advanced Clean Fleets regulation presents major challenges and opportunities for fleets and companies providing the needed fleet electric truck charging stations. Trucking officials have been worried that the goals are unattainable given the current reality faced by fleet operators.
California Air Resources Board (CARB) on April 28 approved an ambitious target for fleets operating in the state to hit – meeting an increasing percentage of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), electric and hydrogen fuel cell medium-to-heavy duty trucks, based on the type of vehicles in operation. Compliance requirements differ based on truck type and use that CARB defines as:
- 100 percent zero-emission drayage trucks, last-mile delivery, and government fleets by 2035
- 100 percent zero-emission refuse trucks and local buses by 2040
- 100 percent zero-emission capable utility fleets by 2040
The end goal is to have fleet operators of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in California purchase and operate ZEVs by 2045. For vehicle makers, CARB wants them to sell only zero emission Class 2b-8 vehicles starting in 2036.
The federal government is moving in this direction as well, though not as stringently as California’s CARB rules. CALSTART recently reported that eight states have already adopted the Advanced Clean Trucks rule: California, Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, and Colorado; and that Maryland and North Carolina are in the process of adopting the rule.
The Port of Long Beach has become a vital testing ground for deploying these vehicles and charging stations. Heavy-duty drayage trucks that serve ports and haul cargo loads are in the 2035 mandate for conversion to ZEVs.
Long Beach-based WattEV has developed a charging facility at the port that can charge 26 trucks. The company recently secured $40.5 million in grants to expand electric truck charging stations in Northern California and Oregon. About $34 million of that total will go to an electric truck stop located near the Sacramento International Airport, which WattEV says will be the nation’s largest electric depot. That will be opening up in the second half of 2025 with 118 berths for medium- and heavy-duty vans, buses, and trucks.
San Francisco-based TeraWatt will be building seven charging centers between Long Beach and El Paso, Texas. TeraWatt has completed land acquisitions for locations along the I-10 interstate highway, Peter Cohen, senior director of business development, told Transport Topics.
Voltera is also planning electric truck charging stations near the Port of Long Beach.
The company sites, builds, owns, and operates strategically located, fit-for-purpose EV charging and hydrogen fueling facilities.
Fleet operators are working with other electric truck charging infrastructure builders, including Current Trucking, a full-service leasing company offering trucks, charging infrastructure, fixed-rate charging, and support services; Zeem provides vehicle leasing, charging, secured parking, and maintenance and cleaning for a monthly fee; Forum Mobility is currently developing a network of charging depots around the Oakland and Los Angeles/Long Beach ports, and along common trucking routes to warehouse destinations; Greenlane aims to design, develop, install, and operate a nationwide, end-to-end charging network for medium- and heavy-duty battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles; and Realize, which provides secure, standardized truck parking, EV charging and upscale amenities for truck drivers, fleets, and logistics companies.
While California has provided generous funding incentives for fleets acquiring electric trucks and electric truck charging, the state is still facing a few hurdles getting in the way of adoption to hit its regulatory targets.
One of these hurdles has been setting up fleet charging stations that can meet municipal building code ordinances. Charging stations set up in condo complexes, houses, and retail shopping centers for electric cars serving personal use will be different than electric truck stops. These truck stops will have a mixture of direct current fast chargers (DCFS), Level 2 chargers, and sometimes they’ll be housing mobile charging units that can retrieve fleet vehicles stranded out in the field.
Municipalities and other government entities will have to work out the details, and develop more programs supporting a broad fleet charging infrastructure. WattEv, TerraWatt, and other companies, are working on projects that will best serve truck stops and other public truck charging stations. Streamlining and coordinating building codes will help truck makers and charging station providers hit state emissions targets.
Jon LeSage is a veteran writer and research analyst in clean transportation, automotive, fleet management, and fuels and energy. He’s fascinated with trends that are shaping the future of sustainable, advanced commercial trucking and passenger mobility.