How Collaboration is Driving the Growth of Heavy-Duty EV Charging Infrastructure – Guest Voices

Transitioning to electric vehicles in commercial trucking represents a pivotal shift toward sustainability. However, it’s not without challenges and existing issues, such as driver retention, parking, and a lack of charging infrastructure.

While these are certainly hills to climb, they are not insurmountable — but it requires collaboration to get there. 

When I joined Greenlane as CEO, I knew that solving these challenges would take industry player collaboration and access to funding and investment. However, to detail how we’ve navigated the early days of establishing a commercial EV charging network, it’s important to understand the primary challenges first.

The Challenges of Establishing a Commercial EV Charging Network

For starters, the industry’s pace of electrifying fleets far exceeds the development of the necessary infrastructure to support it.

There are several signals for this, including a report from the International Council on Clean Transportation showing that nearly 700,000 chargers will be needed nationwide to accommodate the 1 million Class 4-8 medium- and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles anticipated to be deployed by 2030. 

Unfortunately, the current number of chargers available for medium- and heavy-duty ZEVs is nowhere near this — nor on pace to accommodate. 

A 2023 report on the future of the trucking industry looked into electric semi-trucks. It estimates that there are currently only 6,700 public direct current (DC) fast-charging stations in the United States, most of which only serve passenger vehicles. 

The good news is that we’re increasingly seeing the emergence of funding programs to support and advance electrification across the commercial transportation industry, including applications that opened for a historic $1.3 billion funding opportunity for EV charging and alternative-fueling infrastructure.

As of December 2023, $30 billion had been committed to support MHD charging across federal, state, and local governments, investor-owned utilities, and the private sector. 

These recent developments and investments are encouraging and are sorely needed to help the industry electrify, but it’s only a start. 

Addressing Concerns Through Collaboration

This means local governments, public-private partnerships, utilities, investors, and other stakeholders working together. 

Public assistance is vital in overcoming the challenges of transitioning to electric vehicles and the associated costs. 

Examples of successful collaborations include federal government grant programs and partnerships between major fleets and public entities. 

This can be broken down into several key areas:

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): For EVs to be a viable option, TCO must come down to compete with traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. This can be achieved through advancements in battery technology, economies of scale in manufacturing, and strategic deployment of charging infrastructure that minimizes downtime and maximizes efficiency for fleet operators.

Public-Private Partnerships: These are instrumental to seeding the market and seeing the infrastructure deployed. These collaborations can leverage public funding and incentives to reduce initial costs and attract private investment. Successful examples include grants, subsidies, and tax incentives that lower the financial barriers for businesses transitioning to EVs.

Utilities As Strategic Partners: Utilities can implement policies that facilitate extending distribution and service lines, create programs to prepare sites for medium- and heavy-duty vehicle charging, minimize demand charges, and provide flexible interconnection and line extension options. Dedicated account managers for large transportation electrification customers can further streamline the process and implement a phased approach versus having the need for large scale energy on day one.

Forwarding Technology: For freight and logistics companies, the transition to electrification requires a robust technology ecosystem that includes fleet management software, telematics, integration between vehicles and infrastructure providers platforms and smart charging solutions that optimize routing, reduce energy costs, and ensure seamless operation and on-time delivery. Collaboration with technology providers can streamline the adoption process and enhance operational efficiency.

A Unified Vision is Critical for Zero-Emissions Freight Growth

One of Greenlane’s partnerships that illustrates this approach was Greenlane’s collaboration with Uber Freight.

In this collaboration, the ride-share company provided valuable insights and customer data from its extensive network, representing billions of dollars of active freight management. 

These insights have been instrumental in identifying key corridors suitable for early deployment of heavy-duty electric vehicles and determining the specific charging infrastructure needs along these routes. 

By integrating this data with their analysis, we were able to strategically plan the placement of public charging stations on major highways across North America. 

Meanwhile, we expedited the construction process of our first commercial EV charging corridor by working closely with city officials, joint venture partners, and regulatory agencies.

Not only did we attain a $15 million grant from a regulatory agency, but it was because we worked with local governments in the area to better understand how the infrastructure could and should bring positive economic and environmental impacts to the local community that we were considered for the grant in the first place.

These partnerships allowed for the alignment of a vision that benefits both city residents and the industry. Such partnerships demonstrate how aligning public health goals with infrastructure development can lead to faster and more effective project completion.

These examples underscore the vital role that collaborative efforts between private companies, public entities, and joint venture partners play in the swift and efficient deployment of commercial EV charging infrastructure. 

It is through these partnerships that the feasibility of widespread HD BEV adoption is enhanced, and a more sustainable and interconnected transportation future is made possible.

Collaboration Builds Sustainability Success

The path to a sustainable transportation future is clear: Electric vehicles are essential and inevitable, especially in the commercial transportation sector.