Preventing Electric Truck Gridlock

Even though heavy-duty trucks make up 4 percent of vehicles on the road in the United States, they are responsible for 20 percent of the transportation system’s pollution. Electrifying trucks nationwide can significantly reduce air pollution and improve health impacts, all while decreasing owners’ operating and maintenance costs.

A growing number of private and public decision makers are considering or are in the process of developing and implementing initiatives to strengthen local EV charging infrastructure so it can support the increasing number of electric trucks. But many, including utilities and fleet owners, are concerned that these efforts won’t be enough.

RMI’s report Preventing Electric Truck Gridlock: Meeting the Urgent Need for a Stronger Grid offers an easy-to-understand background of electric trucks and their market potential as well as an overview of the challenges facing rapid electrification in the industry. Areas of focus include:

1. Truck background and market potential: What is the history of trucking and what is the state of electric trucking today?
2. Electric truck adoption rates and electricity demand: How will legislation and regulations like the Inflation Reduction Act and the Advanced Clean Trucks rule accelerate electric truck adoption? How much electricity do electric trucks need today and in the future?
3. Grid readiness for new truck loads: Where will charging depots be located? How fast can fleets deploy depots? How do rural and urban needs differ? What are the grid constraints?
4. Solutions: What can fleets, regulators, policymakers, utilities, and other stakeholders do to ensure that today and tomorrow’s electric trucks have the power they need?