Electric trucks already on the market could replace 20% of the diesels taking cargo in and out of the Port of New York and New Jersey, but full electrification would require vehicles with larger batteries and greater range, according to a new report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The report tracked 46 trucks serving the port on trips totaling 121,000 miles over eight weeks and concluded that the routes executed by nine of the trucks could be done with an existing battery of about 375 kWh, with recharging taking place every time there is a two-hour break during the day.

The nine routes could be performed by existing electric trucks because they cover shorter distances. The average route across all the trucks was 140 miles, and the longest route was 573 miles. Those longer routes meant that a substantially larger battery — between 900 kWh and 1,600 kWh — would be needed for electric trucks to cover the remaining routes, the report states.

A battery at the lower end of that range could be used if there were more charging breaks during the day and faster chargers, the report said. But it added that “specific days of operation would require over 1,600 kWh of energy due to longer distances and more intense operation, which is not currently possibly without operational changes,” the report concluded. It added that full adoption of EV trucks would cut carbon emissions from the trucks by 75%.

Port fleet operators say there are relatively few electric truck models available. That is changing, however. Freightliner put its eCascadia (up to 438 kWh and up to 230 miles in range) into production last May. In December, Tesla began delivering its Tesla Semi (up to 500 miles on a single charge) to buyers. (See Tesla to Invest $3.6B in Nev. Truck, Battery Factories.) Both are Class 8 vehicles (over 33,000 pounds, including 18-wheelers).

NREL’s 47-page report also concluded that electric trucks “could be cost-competitive on an energy-cost-per-mile basis for all scenarios while diesel is above $3.00/gal.” The current price for diesel in the state is $4.90/gallon, according to Globalpetrolprices.com.

The report is one of two new studies that focus on the viability of electrifying different elements of the port activity and assessing the impact on emissions in the port, most of which is located in New Jersey and is the largest on the East Coast.

The reports offer a glimpse of what can be achieved through electrification, but also the extensive challenges standing in the way of widespread EV truck adoption, especially from the still limited truck technology available.

Trucks 25% of Transportation Emissions in NJ

New Jersey says electric trucks are key to reducing carbon emissions and pollution because trucks account for 25% of emissions from transportation, the state’s largest source of emissions. The state’s Energy Master Plan, released in 2019, assumes that 75% of medium-duty trucks and 50% of heavy-duty trucks will be electric by 2050. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the ports, has set a goal of reaching zero emissions by 2050.

The workload for drayage trucks — those that pick up and deliver goods to and from the port — varies a lot from truck to truck. Some do short trips to and from a warehouse or distribution center a few miles from the port while others do round trips of several hundred miles into Pennsylvania or the outer reaches of New York state.

So far, however, only a few electric trucks work in the port, and most of those are yard tractors that move containers short trips within the port’s perimeter. Truckers say electric vehicles are too expensive; the range is too limited; and there aren’t enough charging stations to rely on for recharging.

Red Hook Container Terminals in August 2021 introduced 10 electric yard tractors. (See Port of NY-NJ Unveils Fleet of 10 EV Trucks.) Earlier in the year, International Motor Freight outlined a plan to put 16 electric trucks, bought with $5.9 million from the state Volkswagen settlement, into service. (See NJ Looks to Boost Heavy-duty Charge Points.)

Many port trucking operations are run by small independent operators who have only a few trucks and lack resources to invest in EVs or charging stations, according to port officials. (See Port NY-NJ Cites ‘Hurdles’ to Employing EV Trucks.)

The second report, a working paper released on Feb. 6 by the International Council on Clean Transportation, documents case studies of the ports of New York and New Jersey and Seattle and concludes that electrification at both could lead to dramatic cuts in emissions.

The report found that drayage trucks generate about 23.5% of the carbon in the port of New York and New Jersey, and oceangoing vessels bringing the goods in and out of the port generate about 52%. The remaining 25% is generated by harbor craft, such as ferries and tugboats.

The ports could cut emissions from ocean vessels by half if they provided electricity to power them while they are sitting in the port, rather than them running their engines, the report says.

Subsidies

In New Jersey, state agencies have embarked on several initiatives to promote the purchase of EV trucks and stimulate the development of EV charging stations. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority expects to begin accepting applications within weeks for subsidies toward the purchase of the largest trucks, offering $135,000 for a Class 7 truck (ranging between 26,001 and 33,000 pounds, such as garbage collection vehicles or livestock transports) and $175,000 for a Class 8 truck. (See Electric MHD Truck Incentives Promoted in NJ.)  

The program has so far provided financial support for the purchase of 370 trucks, but that is a tiny sliver of the 500,000 trucks that the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities says drive in the state.

The NREL report demonstrates the interplay between battery size, the availability of chargers and the size and charging speed of the chargers. For example, one of the fleets studied would need a 1,600-kWh battery on each vehicle to cover all its routes if charging could take place at a 175-kWh charge rate when there was a break of at least two hours. But the battery could drop to 900 kWh if the charge rate was 300 kWh and charging could take place every time the truck stopped for 10 minutes.

If a truck could be charging every time it stopped for ten minutes, the number of routes that could be done with today’s battery size would increase from nine to 24 the report said, adding that such a scenario is not feasible today with current charging technology and infrastructure.

A key issue for drayage trucks is the location of where the truck takes a break, and whether there is a charging station there. For instance, some of the trucks’ stop time — known as dwell time — is in the terminals, where charging would not be possible, the report said.

The report added that ports are in some ways ripe for truck electrification because about 9% of the trucks’ energy is spent idling, either waiting to enter the terminal or to pick up or deliver a container or products, or other tasks, the report says.

EV trucks “use very little, if any, energy when they are stopped,” the report says. “In contrast, conventional internal combustion engine trucks may use a significant amount of fuel and generate emissions while the engine is idling.”

Moreover, “there may be potential for opportunity charging during times when the truck would traditionally be idling,” providing there is charging infrastructure available at the places where the trucks idle, the report added.