GILROYOn a cloudless spring day on the outskirts of Gilroy, Christian Martorella accelerated past burgeoning orchards in an 18-wheeler. But as an alternative of the roar of a diesel engine, the cabin was full of the gentle hum of an electrical motor.
After driving diesel trucks for ten years, Martorella was initially skeptical about electric trucks. Now he praises the state-of-the-art machines, which he says ride smoother, speed up faster and are overall easier to keep up.
“It’s crazy how consistent they’ve been,” he said. “(They) definitely blew it away.”
The truck is one among seven heavy-duty electric trucks getting used to move food at Performance Food Group in Gilroy, supported by a series of brand name recent charging stations, an upcoming installation of solar panels and a fleet of all-electric refrigerated trailers.
While the Gilroy site is one among the few locations nationwide experimenting with zero-emission technology for semi-trucks, government regulations will push an increasing number of trucks on this direction in the approaching years. By 2036, manufacturers in California will only have the ability to sell zero-emission heavy-duty trucks, and plenty of fleets might want to progressively add more zero-emission vehicles over the following decade.
“It’s important for everyone in their organization to think about these things. But they are ahead of the curve,” says Bill Robertson, vehicle program specialist on the California Air Review Board. “We’re pretty excited about what they’re doing there.”
The Gilroy site will function a test bed for the brand new technologies – each for the corporate and the industry – and permit them to know the strengths and limitations of the technology in the true world. “We will continue to learn from this and add more technologies,” said Jeff Williamson, senior vp of operations for Performance Food Group. “This is in some ways our flagship, our model based on which we want to build future facilities.”
In the past, trucking and shipping were anything but environmentally friendly. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, about 29% of greenhouse gas emissions within the U.S. come from transportation, and a few quarter of that comes from medium- and heavy-duty trucks that power industry and move freight across the country. Almost all of those trucks run on diesel, a fuel whose emissions are linked to health risks equivalent to asthma and heart and lung disease.
“Diesel has been a great fuel for us. We just didn’t know 75 years ago that it would kill the planet,” said Mike Roeth, executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency. “Now we have to do something different.”
But doing “something different” is difficult, especially for big systems. According to CALSTART, a company that researches clean transportation, only 0.02% of the greater than 5 million heavy-duty trucks within the U.S. are zero-emission. And converting more of those trucks to electric comes with some serious hurdles.
First of all, electric trucks have a limited range. The trucks utilized in Gilroy can travel about 200 miles on a charge. Their batteries are also heavy, meaning electric trucks can hit weight limits on roads, resulting in potential trade-offs between energy and beneficial cargo.
High-performance chargers for the batteries are also scarce and sometimes relatively slow. Even with fast chargers, charging can take 45 minutes, in comparison with the ten minutes it could possibly take to fill a tank with fuel. The batteries also require quite a lot of power to charge – each truck is such as around 4 to 6 Teslas when it comes to power, so larger truck stops and depots may have significant upgrades to their networks to offer what Roeth calls “a football stadium's worth of electricity.” “ is transferred to the truck batteries.
“In today’s world, there is no battery-electric vehicle that can truly replace the capabilities of a diesel engine vehicle, mile for mile,” said Len Lamkin, vp of transportation logistics at Performance Food Group
At its pilot location in Gilroy, Performance Food Group is working to alter that. The company ships food to 1000’s of locations across the country, and the Gilroy warehouse serves much of Northern California and beyond. Two of its current electric trucks have been on the path to Santa Cruz since last 12 months. The company also just expanded its electric fleet to seven by adding recent Volvo electric trucks that might be used for deliveries throughout the region.
This progress was made possible by a brand new set of chargers from FreeWire Technologies, that are able to supplying power to the electrical fleet. Each charger is supplied with an internal battery that enables the charger to store power for an extended time frame when demand is low. They can then deliver the electricity to the trucks once they come to charge without having to suddenly draw energy from the grid.
According to David Hochschild, chairman of the California Energy Commission, the charging facility is one among the biggest for heavy-duty transportation within the country. And by utilizing the chargers with built-in batteries, the location didn't need to make network upgrades, which could be expensive and will take years. The upcoming solar array may also help offset the expected increase in energy demand that may accompany a growing electric fleet.
“This really is a postcard from the future,” Hochschild said.
Since the corporate makes a speciality of food delivery, it’s also testing a fleet of over 30 electric refrigerated trailers. While most refrigerated trailers use a diesel-powered engine to offer cooling, the electrical unit uses a battery. The trailer can be equipped with regenerative braking and solar roofs – meaning it advantages from additional solar energy on hot, sunny days when cooling requires more energy. According to Advanced Energy Machines, the corporate that designs and manufactures the units, replacing each trailer will save about 20 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per 12 months – the equivalent of taking 4 passenger cars off the road.
However, all this recent technology comes at a price. An electric 18-wheel truck can sell for $365,000 to $435,000, greater than double the $170,000 price of a typical diesel truck, in line with TEC Equipment, which sold the trucks to the location. About $120,000 per truck might be offset by a government grant, and the location expects to recoup much of the upfront cost through maintenance and diesel fuel savings.
Ultimately, electric trucks will likely be a part of a multi-pronged approach that uses different technologies for various applications. The battery-powered cabs may very well be used on shorter routes where range is less essential, while other technologies, equivalent to hydrogen-powered vehicles, may very well be more suitable for long-haul trucks.
“There’s not one application that fits all… there’s no magic bullet,” Williamson said. “We think it will be a mix of different technologies. We’re just trying to find the right mix.”
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