Electrifying America’s Commercial Fleets

In 2019, transportation accounted for 27% of total CO2 equivalent emissions in the United States. Freight transport contributed 30% of that amount, nearly all of which was emitted by freight trucks (92% vs 8% from rail freight). Diesel freight trucks are also responsible for emitting harmful particulate matter into the air surrounding port communities, which tend to be disproportionately under-resourced and of color. Decarbonizing the road freight sector is a critical piece of the transition to a sustainable, equitable economy. 

This Capstone team worked with Wood Mackenzie to understand the progress made towards electrification of drayage trucks operating from ports in the United States and to assess the technological, political, and financial landscape surrounding the drayage battery electric truck (BET) market. As Class 8 vehicles–the largest and heaviest category of road freight carrier–drayage trucks are one of the thorniest challenges to decarbonizing the sector. Wood Mackenzie considers drayage operations from ports to be an optimal target for freight electrification, since the duty cycles (i.e. daily routines) of drayage trucks are well understood and conducive to the current technical barriers inherent to heavy-duty electric trucks, including range limitation and charge time requirements. 

Existing policy and financial mechanisms in California have made early adoption of drayage BETs possible for larger corporate entities such as Wal-Mart, PepsiCo, and several international shipping and logistics firms. By examining the results of these early pilots alongside real-world driving data from California ports, financial models of the cost of truck ownership, and interviews with sector professionals and Port Authority representatives, the Capstone team assembled a centralized resource base of funding, investment, and policy action opportunities for first movers in the novel and rapidly-growing electric drayage trucking sector.