Author: Jack Jordan, AEG Lead Fellow, Chicago
It’s been a hot month for EVs in Illinois. Here’s what you may have missed:
After over nine months of research and outreach to advance trucking fleet electrification in Chicago, Advanced Energy Group’s 20Q4 Trucking Task Force hosted a successful “Fleet Forum” on September 30, 2021. Attended by over 70 stakeholders representing municipal fleets, commercial fleets, local utilities and more, the Illinois Clean Fleet Forum provided a platform to understand the major roadblocks and opportunities that exist for fleet decarbonization in Illinois.
Below, I summarize three of these roadblocks and opportunities as articulated by attendees of the Illinois Clean Truck Fleet Forum.
Roadblocks:
Roadblock #1: Expenses from charging infrastructure and planning
In the near term, rapid fleet electrification is only possible if existing electrical infrastructure can handle the increased load that charging electric fleets require. In many cases, capacity must be added in the form of substation upgrades to meet the needs of a fleet electrification project, especially for larger fleets. According to Fleet Forum attendee John McCann, Economic and Business Development Manager at ComEd, the most important thing is to work with your utility early on in this process.
“From an infrastructure standpoint, the most important thing is early engagement with the utility when you are thinking of adding chargers. Depending on what this work looks like, it can take 4 months to even a year if we need to bring a new feeder out…. The more information we have in terms of what that buildout looks like, the better.”
Ensuring that electrical infrastructure can keep up with EV deployment is a key consideration for meeting carbon reductions in the freight sector.
Roadblock #2: State incentives
While rebates for electric vehicles within the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act has been a step in the right direction (more on this later), Illinois, along with the rest of the Midwest, still lags behind other states on the east and west coasts.
On July 14, 2020, 15 states along with the District of Columbia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to ensure that 100 percent of all new medium- and heavy-duty vehicle sales be zero emission vehicles by 2050 with an interim target of 30 percent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2030. This has provided greater incentives for fleets to electrify, including in New York, where NYSERDA will fund the incremental costs of electrification, thus mitigating risk for fleet owners and operators.
States that signed the July 14, 2020 MOU to encourage fleet electrification
Danny Fahey, Director of Global Operational Excellence and Sustainability at Martin-Brower, discussed the impacts of these different state incentives during the Fleet Forum:
“Over the last two years we have become more aggressive with our sustainability goals. We publicly committed to a 40% per-ton reduction in our carbon emissions globally by 2030.”
“As part of this process, we looked at our operation in McCook, Illinois and we discovered that from an operational standpoint, the route distance, range, time to charge off peak hours, etc, that this operation could go electric.”
“Unfortunately, when we started looking at the economics of it, we didn’t have the same incentives to help us get there that we do in other parts of the country. While the operation is still capable of eventually going to electric vehicles, at this point we have put it on hold to see how some of the incentive programs develop in Illinois.”
Without greater incentives to help fleets electrify, many fleets are not willing to take the risk in Illinois. This requires freight specific legislation or initiatives that target medium and heavy duty trucks, not just EVs broadly.
This is especially true for smaller fleets and independent drivers, our last, and likely most important roadblock.
Roadblock #3: Engaging small fleets and independent drivers
While major fleets such as Martin-Brower, UPS, and Amazon receive much of the attention when it comes to fleet electrification, transitioning small fleets and independent truck drivers to electric vehicles would not only have a host of economic benefits, but positive health outcomes as well.
Oftentimes, these fleets operate older vehicles that emit greater volumes of fine particulate matter. Globally, fine particulate matter such as PM2.5 is associated with the greatest proportion of adverse health effects related to air pollution, both in the United States and world-wide based on the World Health Organization’s Global Burden of Disease Project. Levels of PM 2.5 pollution are much greater around Chicagoland’s intermodal facilities and major truck routes, and it is most often poor and disadvantaged communities that face the brunt of the negative health implications associated with these pollutants.
Additionally, these fleets often specialize in local drayage routes between intermodal facilities that are optimal for electrification due to short route distances and return to a specific depot each night.
Despite the benefits that would result from the electrification of small and independent fleets, many do not have the resources to navigate the complex and time-intensive process of switching to electric vehicles, and do not have staff dedicated to chase grants or keep up with the latest local and state incentive programs.
According to Fleet Forum attendee Jim Longino of the Greater Southwest Development Corporation, this is one of the greatest challenges he has seen on the southwest side of Chicago.
“There are so many independent truck drivers going in and out of intermodal facilities. How does a small fleet driver who is trying to maintain their bottom line and who has already invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into their rig justify switching to electric? This problem alone with independent fleet owner operators needs to be addressed.”
Other attendees in the audience agreed with Longino, including Dave Schaller, Director of Industry Engagement at the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE):
“How to get an owner-operator to invest in an electric truck that is many times more expensive than the traditional trucks they would find on the used market is an enormous challenge for the truck industry that, at least to me, has no obvious short-term answer.”
Opportunities:
Opportunity #1: New Resources to keep track of technological advancements
In the rapidly advancing world of electric vehicle technology, it can be difficult to keep track of what solutions are available for different trucking applications. Luckily, a few resources have been developed in recent years to assist with precisely this problem.
One of these resources is NACFE’s “Run on Less - Electric” initiative, which was a trucking technology demonstration that featured 13 different battery electric trucks operating across the U.S. and Canada. The website includes resources such as fleet introductions and profiles, daily metrics on truck performance, and even an EV Truck Bootcamp that features 48 different experts sharing their insights into fleet electrification.
Participating fleets in NACFE’s 2021 Run on Less - Electric initiative
Another valuable resource is the Zero-Emissions Technology Inventory (ZETI) tool by CALSTART.
ZETI is an interactive online resource for worldwide commercially available offerings of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. It allows fleets to specify their region, application, availability, and manufacturer to determine what vehicles may fit their needs. This tool is particularly helpful for smaller fleets that may have limited time to research their options.
Opportunity #2: Changing tides in Illinois
While Illinois still does not have the robust incentives programs found in states like New York and California, the passage of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act in the days before the Fleet Forum and the advancement of the Reimaging Electric Vehicles Act in the Illinois legislature both add more funding that may help fleets transition to electric vehicles.
In the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, one source of funding is through the creation of beneficial electrification programs by utilities. As specified in the legislation, these programs must “support at least a 40% investment of make-ready infrastructure incentives to facilitate the rapid deployment of charging equipment in or serving environmental justice, low-income, and eligible communities.”
In addition, rebates will be available through application for electric vehicle purchases. Beginning in 2022 and extending until 2026, buyers in eligible Illinois counties can receive up to $4,000 from their purchase of an electric vehicle.
Luckily, CEJA has only marked the beginning of an action-packed month for EVs in Illinois.
Just a few hours after the completion of the AEG Fleet Forum on September 30th, Midwest governors from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin signed the Regional Electric Vehicle for the Midwest Memorandum of Understanding (REV Midwest MoU) which could eventually bring the Midwest up to par with initiatives on the east and west coast.
However, organizations such as the Illinois Environmental Council argue that Governor Pritzker must do more to address fleet electrification specifically. In a press release from October 1st, the IEC wrote that “To truly address the growing threat of climate change and dangerous air pollution levels in Illinois, particularly in our most vulnerable communities, the Governor must now focus his attention on electrifying large vehicles like trucks that run on diesel.” Again, as mentioned in obstacle #2 above, Illinois must specify freight and trucking in these provisions.
Finally, yet another bill with EV incentives has passed in the Illinois General Assembly. The Reimagining Electric Vehicles Act or REV Act is now headed to Governor Pritzker’s desk. The bill includes large incentives for EV manufacturers to build new plants in Illinois.
To get the best idea about how this new legislation changes the landscape in Illinois, participate in the Illinois Commerce Commission’s EV Workshops.
Opportunity #3: Chicago’s advantage as the nation’s historic “freight hub”
Illinois’ last opportunity is probably its most important: the Chicago region’s position as the nation’s “freight hub.” Just as Carl Sandburg wrote in his 1914 poem “Chicago”, the region remains a “Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
According to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, “Approximately 25 percent of all freight trains and 50 percent of all intermodal trains in the U.S. pass through metropolitan Chicago.”
According to Fleet Forum attendee Tom Murtha, Senior Planner at CMAP, this provides a great opportunity for the electrification of all the relatively short trucking routes that carry freight between the city’s intermodal yards.
“The Chicago region is a national freight hub, particularly for intermodal rail-truck container shipments. Intermodal drayage trucks, local delivery trucks, and other fleets of trucks which return to the same terminal each night are all great opportunities for fleet electrification because these trucks can typically complete a full day’s travel on a single charge completed while parked overnight.”
With this advantage, Chicago is in a unique position to fully capitalize on the promise of electric fleets, bolstering its position as a freight hub of the nation and reducing harmful emissions in the process.
However, if there is one thing the AEG Chicago Trucking Task Force has learned in the last nine months, it’s that this transition to a clean transportation future cannot happen without continued collaboration. Private fleets large and small, municipal fleets, utilities, public officials, and community members must all be in conversation with one another to find the best path forward to a more equitable and climate-friendly freight system.
