Zeem Solutions, a California-based company specializing in transportation- and charging-as-a-services for electric vehicles (EVs), is expanding its operations to the ports of Long Beach, Calif., and Newark, N.J., to support the electrification of heavy-duty fleets in the drayage sector. The expansions align with mounting regulatory pressure for zero-emission operations and increasing demand for EV infrastructure.
Zeem was founded five years ago to simplify EV adoption by providing a service model that includes vehicle procurement, charging, maintenance, and regulatory compliance. It says its fixed-fee approach eliminates the operational and financial burdens of building and managing EV infrastructure.
“Everything would be handled for one monthly price, regardless of what happens with fluctuation, with electricity pricing, your numbers are for the length of your contract,” said Rick Eckert, vice-president of operations at Zeem. “Every morning, we guarantee your vehicle is going to be charged and ready for the road.”
Zeem also helps customers with driver training and accessing government incentives, such as California’s Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP) and federal tax credits, to reduce the upfront costs of transitioning to EVs. But Eckert also pointed out the long-term benefits of transitioning to EVs: “Right now here in L.A., it’s US$6 a gallon for diesel, and we’re charging the customer 40 cents a kilowatt, 42 cents a kilowatt or 43 cents, depending on the customer’s duty cycle. That’s significantly cheaper, and all the other maintenance goes out the window.”
Meeting fleet electrification challenges
With its services, Zeem aims to address key barriers to heavy- and medium-duty fleets EV adoption – particularly the lack of charging infrastructure – by pre-procuring equipment and securing large-scale power agreements.
“We’ve seen companies that just buy a truck, they park a truck, and it’s just money wasted,” Eckert said, adding that the company stepped in to help with truck procurement and has strong relationships with manufacturers, ensuring that customers aren’t left waiting.
“We’re taking the risk, we’re taking the burden, and then we’re having to make do in the morning. The truck has to be ready. So that’s [about] building confidence with the customer to where now they come back and go, ‘Hey, I’m gonna buy trucks on my own, but I still want you guys to do all the services.’”
The company’s proactive approach has resulted in rapid growth. In its inaugural year, the company delivered 1 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy to charge vehicles. By the third quarter of 2023, charging sessions accounted for 226,000 kWh. This figure saw a dramatic increase this year. In the third quarter of 2024 alone, Zeem’s charging sessions surged to more than 2.6 million kWh. The company expects to exceed 5 million kWh by the end of this month.
Expansion to Long Beach and Newark
Zeem’s upcoming facility in Long Beach, Calif., set to open in mid-2025, is strategically located six minutes from the bridge into downtown Long Beach, making it ‘an ideal location’ for drayage trucks to charge and park, Eckert said.
The site will feature 42 high-power 400-kW dual-portchargers with access to 15 to 30 megawatts (MW) of power, enabling close to 300 overnight sessions for Class 8 trucks and 500 daily opportunity charging sessions during the day when most trucks are gone.
“Right now, we have 15 MW committed to us by Edison, with another 15 on the back. We think when we’re going full speed, we’re going to be using close to 30 MW.”
Eckert said this is an important location for Zeem, with a high volume of trucks, referencing that the port of Long Beach handles close to 40% of all containers coming into the U.S. “The idea is, at the end of your shift, you come out of the port, empty, come over [to the depot], park, and in the morning, you come back, get your truck, go back out, go back and pick up a trailer, and then run your drayage to wherever.”
He added, “Zeem sees significant potential in the drayage market, as the ports are under pressure to transition their fleets to electric to meet emissions regulations.”
This is why another location near a port is on its way.
The Newark site in New Jersey is located at a decommissioned power plant near the Port of Newark and will similarly offer 40 high-power chargers with 30 MW of power. Zeem is leveraging existing infrastructure at the site to expedite its buildout.
However, Zeem is still in the process of finalizing site approvals. The company has yet to announce a definitive timeline for when the site will go live but is actively coordinating with stakeholders to resolve any pending documentation and utility access challenges. The utility still owns a portion of the property, and they need access to it. “We’ve had to reconfigure our layout a couple of times and then really think about how it’ll impact our parking and charging,” Eckert said.
Operations at Inglewood facilities
Zeem currently operates two facilities in Inglewood, Calif., both near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Together, these sites serve as a critical hub for EV operations, supporting a wide range of vehicles, including heavy-duty Class 8 trucks, medium-duty delivery vans, light-duty cars, and shuttle buses.
The first site includes 26 fast chargers positioned around the perimeter, each with two ports, enabling simultaneous charging for up to 52 vehicles, with an additional 18 Level 2 chargers in the middle. Meanwhile, the second location features 10 fast charges (20 ports), five smaller, 30-kW chargers, and another 32 Level 2 chargers throughout the property. These facilities also draw on 10 MW of power to support their operations.
All vehicles are inspected upon arrival, signed in, and directed to appropriate charging stations, where the charging process begins promptly to maximize uptime.
The facilities use a centralized dashboard system that provides customers with real-time updates on their vehicle’s charging status. Zeem employs a carefully planned schedule and staggered vehicle arrivals to manage the high volume of vehicles efficiently. This approach prevents bottlenecks and ensures a steady flow of traffic within the depots, maintaining seamless operations even during peak usage times, which, in California, occur between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. Most charging operations, though, occur when electricity is cheaper.
As Zeem prepares to launch its Long Beach and Newark sites, the company is already looking at other locations, including in Savannah, Houston, and Seattle.
Credit: Source link
