The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator created an investment blueprint for heavy-duty charging depots adjacent to the busy Interstate 710 freeway freight corridor, supporting battery electric trucks serving the San Pedro Bay Ports. Following a selection framework that incorporated grid infrastructure and drayage duty cycles, the blueprint identifies priority locations for public and private heavy-duty charging infrastructure. It also provides a high-level budgetary assessment, based on specific site evaluations, which will include not only initial capital costs but also ongoing operational expenses for a few select sites, as well as estimated corridor-wide investments for reaching 40 percent zero emission drayage trucks by 2028 and 100 percent zero emission drayage trucks by 2035.
The blueprint first analyzed truck density data within the defined region at typical charging times to identify locations that can serve many fleets during standard charging windows. After identifying truck densities, the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator worked with Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to determine how existing transmission and distribution infrastructure can cost-effectively support depot infrastructure deployments. After completing the grid and traffic map layers, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice and the Coalition for Environmental Health and Justice identified ideal locations for potential infrastructure deployments. The project team then constructed a top-level budget for the investment required to support large deployments of charging infrastructure at a representative sample of the priority sites. This assessment addressed not only operational needs for private, public, or shared depots, but also the business models required for sustainable energy management strategies.
The final step was estimating the total amount of the chargers along the Interstate 710 freeway corridor required to support 100 percent battery electric drayage to serve the San Pedro Bay Ports. With an understanding of how many chargers and depots the region will need to achieve 100 percent battery-electric drayage, the project team built off the budgets of the assessed sites to create a comprehensive depot investment plan that supports the San Pedro Bay Ports’ key goods movement corridors.
