On February 11, Volvo Trucks North America brought together several hundred dealers, fleet leaders and industry stakeholders to showcase the continued progress of the Volvo LIGHTS program and provide driving evidence for its battery-powered VNR regional electric tractor.
“Electric mobility is the way to go,” said Peter Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Trucks North America, in his keyside address at the TEC Equipment dealership in Fontana, California, Volvo’s largest dealership in North America.
Voorhoeve called Volvo LIGHTS (Low Impact Green Heavy Transport Solution) “the largest public-private partnership to show how heavy battery electric cars will play a role in cleaner transport.”
The program combines Volvo, the California Air Resources Board, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) and 14 industry partners.
Originally unveiled in 2018, Volvo LIGHTS won a major condiment last year when CARB submitted a $44.8 million check to the South Coast AQMD to fund ongoing projects. The Volvo Group contributed $36.7 million to the project.
Martin Lundstedt, president and CEO of Volvo Group, lobbied for partnerships and cooperation to ensure the successful implementation of the next era of electrification and connectivity technologies for freight transport.
“Tangible” pilot systems are paving the way in the long term by assisting in addressing the functionality and financial disruptions of electric vehicles, while gaining the trust of investors and the general public, Lundstedt said.
Preparations are underway for Volvo to market battery-powered electric VNR, with limited production expected until the end of this year and planned acceleration next year at the New River Valley production facility in Virginia.
NFI and Dependable Highway Express have received initial electric VNRs and are commissioning real-world cars at Southern California’s inland ports and warehouses.
Voorhoeve said Volvo engineers will closely evaluate data pulled from the trucks to better understand the nuisances involved in battery charging and optimizing range. Brett Pope, VTNA’s director of electromobility, said this is an example how LIGHTS will help “fleets incorporate the logistics of charging the trucks into their daily operations.”
At the Volvo event, Greenlots, A LIGHTS PARTNER and a member of the Shell Group, announced the installation of two fully operational 50 kW DC fast loaders on the Fontana site. Greenlots said he would install another 150 kW DC fast charger on the premises next month and plans to install 3 more stations at Southern California depots.
“Greenlots’ SKY platform is designed to evolve and provide a charging solution that meets the unique needs of Volvo Trucks’ electric fleet and is optimized for load and energy,” said Harmeet Singh, Chief Technology Officer, Greenlots. “The open standards loading technique built into Volvo’s Greenlots platform to maintain your cargo infrastructure investments.”
Editor’s Note: See Friday for more information on this event.
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California is pushing to reduce transportation emissions through the Advanced Clean Truck Regulations. However, zero-emission vehicles, which are more expensive than diesel and gas trucks, do not have the infrastructure.
Transportation is the largest contributor to air pollutants and carbon emissions in California, according to the California Air Resources Board (CARB). As the state moves ahead to reach its zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) goals, the biggest challenges will be achieving widespread adoption of ZEV technologies across all classes of vehicles, as well as implementing the necessary infrastructure to keep those vehicles up and running.
In San Diego and across the state, significant progress has been made in the Soft Electric Vehicle (EV) space, with more than 700,000 soft electric and passenger cars sold nationwide. But when it comes to deploying VSA for medium and heavy loads, the state has a long way to go, said Kevin Wood, coalition coordinator for San Diego’s blank regional cities. Across the state, around 2,000 heavy-duty and medium-duty ERUs have been deployed to date, Wood said at a webinar on complex blank technologies on July 29.
“The progress we’ve made in soft cars is a wonderful thing to reduce greenhouse fuel emissions, and we have a lot more to do in the soft vehicle area to make sure those cars deploy as much as possible,” Wood said. “But when we take a look at the emissions of NOx, one of the major pollutants affecting public health, medium- and heavy cars, even though they make up only a small part of cars on the road, account for more than a portion of our smog emissions. in the region.”
The air quality criteria of the federal air quality law require 30% relief in NOx emissions through 2026 and 40% through 2032. CARB is pushing for those emission discounts in its new Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulations.
“Fleets have already taken this direction with the regulation of trucks and buses that has changed almost all the old diesel trucks to diesel engines in more recent years of style,” Wood explained. “But the switch to a cleaner diesel vehicle did require a whole new set of infrastructure, as we see with medium- and heavy-duty zero-emissions.”
In a webinar on the California ACT, Cristiano Fa’anha, director of CALSTART, explained that for the next five years, the purpose is to make cars with zero-emissions advertising competitive. In addition, until 2040, the purpose is for zero-emissions generation to dominate advertising vehicle sales.
ACT follows a strategy in which zero emissions generation will be followed in waves. Considerations of the first wave carry buses due to their predictable routes and their ability to recharge at night, followed by the delivery segment and medium-load cars, heavy regional cargo cars and ending with long-distance heavy trucks.
“ACT continued in the context of expanding the availability of models for zero-emission advertising vehicles,” explained fa’anha. “Trucks and advertising buses are about to see a significant increase in the U.S. And Canada. The number of zero-emission models available is on track to build up to almost 80% until the end of this year compared to last year We expect it to double until 2023. »
Sydney Vergis, CARB’s deputy leader in the cellular resources department, reiterated that shipping is the largest contributor to air pollutants and carbon emissions in the state. CARB believes that zero-emission trucks and autocellulars, whether battery and hydrogen electrics, in medium and heavy passengers, are the solution for public and economic health, he added.
“The challenge is to achieve the widespread adoption of zero-emission technologies in all vehicle classes,” Vergis said. “For us, truck electrification is vital for a variety of economic and public fitness reasons. Trucks account for 50% of greenhouse fuel emissions and more than 95% of poisonous diesel emissions.”
The ACT Regulation, followed by CARB in June 2020, aims to the state to achieve its objectives. The rule requires medium and heavy car brands to sell zero-emission trucks as a component of their annual sales, starting in 2024.
The regulation aims to give brands early admission to the zero-emission truck market and provide flexibility, adding credits for the sale of ZETs and plug-in credits for hybrid electric vehicles.
The regulations apply to brands, giant brands that sell more than 500 medium and heavy trucks in California. The proposed regulation uses credits and shortfalls in which ZET will generate credits, while domestic combustion trucks sold in California will generate deficits.
California, however, does not prefer to adopt ZEV. Governors of 15 states, as well as the mayor of Washington DC, recently agreed on a pact called the Multi-State Memorandum of Understanding on Medium and Heavy Zero Emission Vehicles (MOU), which requires only new means and zero-emission trucks. and heavy buses will be sold in their jurisdiction until 2050. They have set a target of 30% of zero-emissions ad-supported cars by 2030, which will be reassessed by 2025 as new knowledge enters.
The MOU has been signed by the governors of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, as well as the mayor of Washington, D.C.
Over the next six months, signatories will extend a multi-state action plan to develop the viability of zero-emission cars, such as battery-powered electric trucks, which are more expensive than diesel and gasoline-powered trucks and lack full replenishment/recharge. Infrastructure. According to the MEMORANDUM of Understanding, a multi-state ZEV management organization will address car and infrastructure-like monetary and non-monetary incentives, deployment strategies, awareness and education, how to paint with utilities, weight restrictions, knowledge criteria, and more.
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