The United States has five high-priority areas where the regional haul environment is inherently so well suited for moving freight economically with electric vehicles that fleet owners there should plan to deploy those trucks “even if just as a pilot project,” according to the North American Council for Freight Efficiency.
The five locations NACFE identified in its new guidance report are: California, Texas’ four largest urban centers, the Northwest, the Rocky Mountain front range and the Northeast.
NACFE found the areas share some key traits, including relatively mild weather, lower electricity prices, high levels of freight movement, a pressing need to improve air quality and supportive policies and incentives.
The report, “Potential Regions for Electric Truck Deployments,” proposed a framework to help prioritize the necessary steps in regions where electric truck deployments make the most sense and are likely to be the most successful. Completed in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Institute, the report emerged from large national fleets seeking more information on deployment options.
“The regional haul day cab is such a large fertile ground for electric trucks on dedicated routes [within 300 miles]. That’s where we think the focus should be to really help scale,” Mike Roeth, executive director of NACFE, said during a virtual press conference.
The report’s detailed framework is grounded on:
- Technology — identifying the regions that are most favorable to the unique attributes of the technology itself.
- Need — identifying the regions that exhibit the greatest need for the technology.
- Support — identifying the regions that provide the most support for the technology.
“We think this framework will help us bring the priorities up to help us through that time period where it is very difficult to justify electric truck production and purchases if the up-front cost of both the charging infrastructure and trucks are so high,” Roeth added.
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