New Jersey is looking to jump-start greater medium- and heavy-duty (MHD) electric truck use with a new rule and incentive package aimed at stimulating private-sector construction of charging stations statewide. Crafted by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), the proposal seeks to cut range anxiety for truckers with a planned geographic distribution of chargers that also would address fairness and environmental justice concerns.

The BPU proposal envisions private developers and investors installing, owning and operating electric vehicle service equipment and marketing the sites to customers who would pay to charge their vehicles, thus providing the owners a return on their investments.

Electric distribution companies (EDCs) would be responsible for wiring and providing the backbone infrastructure necessary, generally funded by ratepayers, to ensure the state has a “robust number of publicly accessible or public-serving” locations that are ready for MHD chargers to be installed. An EDC would be allowed to own and operate chargers only as an “operator of last resort,” that is, if no private investor has stepped in due to an unattractive location, according to the proposal.

The BPU will hold seven public hearings to gather comments on the proposal, with the first scheduled for Aug. 5. The state is increasing its efforts to replace polluting diesel trucks with electric trucks as part of its plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, which accounts for about 40% of the state’s overall carbon emissions.  

Medium and heavy-duty vehicles make up about one third of those emissions, and the BPU says the proposed rule package aims to create an “equitable, reliable electric vehicle (EV) Ecosystem.” Disadvantaged and low-income communities may not buy electric vehicles, but they often experience heavy air pollution from diesel trucks running through their communities, especially in neighborhoods located near ports on the New Jersey coast.

“New Jersey needs to create a comprehensive EV Ecosystem that provides both light-duty and MHD EVs with public access to charging infrastructure on travel corridors and at workplaces,” the rule proposal says. “New Jersey cannot meet its ambitious clean energy goals … unless it can electrify its transportation section.”

Truckers in New Jersey, like those around the nation, cite the lack of MHD charging sites as a key obstacle to greater use of electric trucks. Other barriers include the short range of existing electric trucks — only up to around 250 miles — and the high cost of the vehicles.

Enviros’ Varied Response

Transitioning to electric trucks and light-duty vehicles is a key element of Gov. Phil Murphy’s target of reaching 100% clean energy by 2050. The state’s master plan, released in 2019, assumes that 75% of medium-duty trucks and 50% of heavy-duty trucks will be electric by 2050.

As another part of Murphy’s plan, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in May released a rule proposal designed to increase electric truck use by requiring truck vendors in New Jersey to dramatically increase sales of MHD electric trucks by 2035. Those rules faced vigorous criticism in a public hearing, with opponents arguing they would do little to cut emissions because too few electric truck models are available and demand for them is low. (See NJ Electric Truck Rules Face Many Questions.)

The charger proposal, which the BPU released on June 30, drew a mixed response from environmentalists. Mary Barber, director of legislative and regulatory affairs for the Environmental Defense Fund in New York and New Jersey, said, it is “encouraging” that the BPU has fulfilled its commitment to “open a formal conversation with stakeholders about how to prepare the electric system and the utilities to support New Jersey’s achievement of its critically important truck and bus electrification goals.”

Sierra Club New Jersey also welcomed the rules. But the organization questioned whether the state could meet its equality goals through private investment. In the proposal, the BPU says the rule package is designed to “ensure equitable geographic diversity, particularly with respect to ensuring a viable EV Ecosystem in low-income, urban and environmental justice communities.”

But, in an email to NetZero Insider, Taylor McFarland, acting director for the Sierra Club New Jersey Chapter, said that relying on private investors to create the charging network will “slow that process down and perversely ensure that communities hit hardest by MHD vehicle pollution are among the last to see air quality improve.” Private investors will focus mostly on developing infrastructure in wealthier — more lucrative — areas, according to the Sierra Club. To avoid that outcome, the organization said, electric utility companies should have a greater role in developing charging sites with ratepayer funds.

The BPU proposal describes a more limited role for EDCs, with a role as owners and operators only in the “last resort.” While in most cases they would be providing the “make-ready” wiring and infrastructure for privately owned and paid-for charging stations, they would be able to use ratepayer funds to prepare charging sites for public fleets, especially in urban or low-income areas.

Ratepayer funds could not be used for installing charging infrastructure for private fleets, but EDCs could provide technical assistance, the proposal says, adding that the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) is “currently working on programs” to provide funding in this area.

Demand For Electric Trucks

While few electric trucks are on New Jersey roads, industry analysts, including the authors of two separate reports released in March by the Environmental Defense Fund and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, say that technological advances, especially in battery size, mean that electric trucks are becoming more viable and can have long-term economic advantages over diesel. Reaping those benefits, however, will require government support, the reports said. (See NJ Looks to Boost Heavy-duty Charge Points.)

New Jersey’s effort to bolster a shift to electric trucks includes several programs, now underway, to encourage truckers to buy and use them. In February, Murphy announced $100 million in state funds to be used for clean energy grants, including $22 million for the purchase of 52 electric buses, trucks and shuttles, mainly for use by local governments. (See NJ RGGI Spending Focuses on Transportation).

The funding will be used to replace diesel trucks with electric trucks in the Port of New York and New Jersey, which has long been the source of pollution concerns, in large part due to emissions created by drayage trucks moving containers in and out of the port next to the cities of Newark and Elizabeth. (See NJ Targets Ports for EV Incentives.)

In January, Murphy unveiled a $16 million incentive program designed to cut emissions in two environmental justice communities close to ports by awarding vouchers of between $25,000 and $100,000 to fund the purchase of electric zero-emission MHD trucks. To be eligible, the trucks must be used within 10 miles of Newark and Camden, home to the South Jersey Port Corp.