Conference season is ramping up and we just attended two great events in San Diego: San Diego Gas & Electric’s (SDG&E) EV Fleet Day and the Zero Emission Ride and Drive held at Truck Net, the site host for California’s first public direct current fast charging (DCFC) station for medium- and heavy-duty (MHD) vehicles, located near the US-Mexico border. Here are a few things we learned.

Infrastructure development challenges remain, but programs are really helping

Utility make ready infrastructure programs are catalyzing real progress for EV and charging infrastructure deployments. At last week’s event, representatives from SDG&E shared that the utility’s Power Your Drive for Fleets Program has completed construction on 14 projects, with 5 more in the midst of construction and 40 in preliminary engineering and design phases. Similar programs from other utilities are also helping fleets put infrastructure in the ground. As of December 31, 2021, Southern California Edison had completed construction on 27 projects through its Charge Ready Transport Program and Pacific Gas & Electric had completed construction on 28 through its EV Fleet Program.

Challenges still remain, though. Infrastructure development timelines are still quite long – up to 12 to 24 months according to SDG&E. Also, infrastructure can be expensive (see this article on infrastructure costs from ICF and this guidance from the US Department of Energy), especially if utility equipment upgrades and/or site preparation are needed. Fleets can alleviate these problems by getting in touch with their utility as early as possible and taking advantage of the billions of funding that is becoming available from State and Federal programs (see this Funding Finder Tool for more information).

Ports face a particularly challenging problem: figuring out how to reduce emissions from their own fleet as well as their tenants’ fleets

The Port of San Diego (POSD) approved its Maritime Clean Air Strategy in October 2021 and has been busy implementing it since. This includes a goal of all heavy-duty (HD) trucks going in and out of the Port’s terminals to be zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2030. And, POSD is not alone. Ports across the world are starting to implement similar decarbonization measures (from the USA, to the Netherlands, China, and beyond). This means that ports have to tackle their own emissions as well as scope 3 emissions - those that come from assets owned by the port’s tenants, not the ports themselves. 

For the most part, it’s the tenants and port visitors that own and operate HD trucks. While ports have direct control over their own assets, reducing emissions from others’ equipment requires collaborative and creative policymaking, programming, and partnership. POSD is addressing this in multiple ways, including a ZE Truck Pilot Project to fund deployments, as well as solicitations to develop HD ZEV infrastructure and regional freight corridors capable of supporting short-haul ZE truck operations. And, speaking of MHD fleet electrification, we learned one more big thing that was echoed in conversations throughout both events…

The Advanced Clean Fleets Rule is just around the corner

For those still unaware, the Advanced Clean Fleets Rule (ACF) is a California state regulatory program proposed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) that seeks to achieve a few key goals by requiring certain fleets with certain vehicles to adopt MHD ZEVs over time.

CARB is expected to adopt the rule as early as its meeting on April 27-28, 2023. After adoption, affected fleets will need to start complying with ACF regulations as early as 2025.

We plan to dig deeper into the ACF in the next couple weeks, including what it means for fleets, and how they can prepare. Until then, for fleets looking to start planning, we recommend checking out our free and publicly available tool, Flipturn Assess. You can use it to see what MHD ZEVs are available, estimate their costs and business case, and start putting together a transition plan.

Oh, one more thing. We also learned that San Diego is an excellent place for a conference!

Really, it was beautiful.

 If you would like to improve your EV fleet operations, Flipturn is here to help.

Our systems help fleets monitor and optimize operations so they can make the right decisions faster, maximize EV and charger utilization, reduce range anxiety, cut costs, and get the most out of their EVs.

Get in touch with us at hello@getflipturn.com