New EV charging corridor to power up trucks from Los Angeles to Las Vegas

The Biden administration has spelled out its strategy for decarbonizing the freight industry, and industry appears to be answering the call.

On Wednesday, Greenlane—a $675 million joint venture made up of heavy trucking giant Daimler Truck North America, energy company NextEra Energy, and investment firm BlackRock—unveiled its plan for a 280-mile commercial EV charging corridor between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The corridor, which Greenlane will kick off with three initial locations in southern California, will feature more than 100 public chargers along Interstate 15, according to a press release.

The flagship site in Colton, California, will have 60 charging stations for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles, including 400 kWh and 200 kWh direct-current fast chargers. “Later project phases will support both long-duration and overnight charging lanes for tractor-trailer combinations,” according to a company press release. That facility is slated to open in Q4, Greenlane CEO Patrick Macdonald-King told Tech Brew.

The other two initial sites will be in Barstow, California, and Baker, California, with the rest of the corridor slated to open next year. Facilities along the corridor will be placed about 60 miles to 90 miles apart.

The announcement marks the start of Greenlane’s plan to establish a nationwide fast-charging and hydrogen fueling network for commercial vehicles.

Macdonald-King told Tech Brew that the venture is using a data-driven approach when deciding where to build charging stations, leveraging data from Daimler and Uber Freight.

And in terms of specific locations along the corridor, Macdonald-King said Greenlane plans to employ a mix of building brand-new facilities on greenfield sites; establishing operations at existing travel centers and truck stops; and installing stations at retail locations like convenience stores and dealerships.

“We’re looking at this three-pronged strategy of the size of the sites that we roll out and that’ll allow us to get to market faster,” he said.

Greenlane’s announcement follows the Biden administration’s unveiling earlier this month of the National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy. As Tech Brew previously reported, it’s a four-phase plan to establish a charging and refueling network for medium- and heavy-duty trucks by 2040, as part of the administration’s efforts to decarbonize the transportation sector.

The administration has set a goal of having zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles make up at least 30% of sales by 2030 and 100% by 2040.

“Historically, I mean, there’s not a lot of history in this industry, but there hasn’t been as much time and attention spent on medium- and heavy-duty trucks. So we were very happy when we saw it come out, that now they’re going to be focusing on this,” Macdonald-King said of the strategy.

“It’s a very important part of the industry that needs to be solved for,” he added. “It is a little bit further behind in regards to development of electrification than passenger vehicles, but I can see the tipping point in the future where they’re going to be moving in this direction—both battery-electric as well as hydrogen.”

Greenlane plans to roll out hydrogen fueling infrastructure within its network once more hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are on the market.