Electrify America and NFI Industries are planning one of the nation’s single largest charging infrastructure projects to support heavy-duty electric trucks, with 34 ultra-fast DC chargers slated for completion by December 2023.
Electrify America has been selected to deploy charging solutions, including site configuration and energy management services. NFI will deploy 60 battery-electric drayage trucks, becoming the first 100% zero-emission fleet operator and truck shop in California.
The Joint Electric Truck Scaling Initiative (JETSI) will help fund 50 of the trucks, with 10 additional Volvo VNR Electrics funded by Volvo Trucks North America and SWITCH-ON.
The charging infrastructure to support this fleet will be installed at NFI’s Ontario, Calif., facility and feature 150 kW and 350 kW ultra-fast chargers. The chargers will serve NFI’s growing fleet of battery-electric freight trucks used for drayage at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, picking up containers from the ports and transporting them back to the Ontario facility. To bolster resiliency, leverage renewable electricity and reduce ongoing costs, multiple MW of distributed energy resources will be co-located with the charging infrastructure, including both solar photovoltaic and energy storage.
“Electrify America is constantly embarking on innovative initiatives to drive the EV industry forward, and this milestone project is the latest example of the company’s leadership in thinking bigger and bolder about the future of mobility,” says Electrify America’s Rachel Moses. “We are delighted to collaborate with NFI and look forward to installing a first-of-its-kind commercial charging facility to power this fleet of electric freight trucks.”
“As NFI continues to spearhead supply chain sustainability and minimize the industry’s environmental impact, many elements need to align to ensure we continue making progress,” adds Bill Bliem, senior vice president of fleet services at NFI. “Throughout our experience, we’ve learned that having the right partners, technology, and access to safe, reliable and fast-charging infrastructure are essential to the successful implementation of EVs. We are excited for this opportunity to collaborate with the charging infrastructure experts at Electrify America as we move beyond our demonstration projects and scale our Ontario facility infrastructure to support a 100% electric drayage fleet.”
In addition to NFI and Electrify America’s investments, the electric truck charging infrastructure project is partially funded by a joint project between the California Air Resources Board, California Energy Commission, and the South Coast Air Quality Management District (JETSI project) to advance electric fleet adoption.
