California has set aggressive targets and timelines for the sales and adoption of zero-emission trucks in the state. However, developing a charging infrastructure network for medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks is challenging and will take time. In addition, there has also been much debate about whether the electric grid capacity expansion can keep pace with this anticipated mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). The goal of this research is to simultaneously address the issues of freight decarbonization and supply chain resiliency by designing electric truck fleet management strategies that: 1) consider the limited availability of charging infrastructure for medium-duty/heavy-duty EVs, at least in the near future; 2) can respond to the uncertainties associated with electric grid service interruption or disruption; and 3) analyze the requirements and constraints associated with long-haul and short-haul with respect to electric trucks. This collaborative project will bring together researchers from the University of Southern California who are experts in long-haul trucking operations and researchers from the University of California, Riverside, who possess complementary expertise in short-haul trucking (e.g., drayage) operations. The requirements for long-haul and short-haul operations for electric trucks are substantially different when it comes to distance of travel, parking availability, hours of service, and infrastructure charging, among other things. It is critical to consider all of these issues as a single project, where the research team can explore together the different synergies and tradeoffs encountered between long-haul and short-haul operations. Further, the team intends to work together to expand this towards “medium-haul” scenarios as well. It is expected that the results from this research will serve as another “tool” in the toolbox to ease the transition towards full truck electrification.
