Hampton Roads residents might soon notice quieter trucks hauling cargo across the region, with the words “zero emissions” emblazoned on their cabs.
Local leaders gathered at a warehouse in Chesapeake Thursday to celebrate the launch of 10 new all-electric freight trucks by NFI, a third-party supply chain logistics provider.
It’s the New Jersey-based company’s first electric fleet on the East Coast.
“We are going to be moving Virginia cargo for Virginia businesses in a much more fuel-efficient and clean manner,” Sarah McCoy, interim director of the Virginia Port Authority, said at Thursday’s ceremony.
The project is a six-year pilot between NFI and Meta, the owner of Facebook, to reduce carbon emissions in heavy industry.
Meta and many other corporations have pledged to voluntarily achieve “net-zero” emissions in the coming decades, meaning they would not add any climate-warming pollution into the atmosphere.
Those targets have proven difficult to achieve. Companies often turn to programs that attempt to offset emissions by funding actions that eliminate them elsewhere.
That’s where the Chesapeake project comes in.
Alexa Branco, NFI’s sustainability director, said Meta was looking for ways to earn credits by reducing emissions in heavy-duty industries, such as shipping, aviation and manufacturing.
These industries are considered “hard to abate,” meaning they’re more difficult to decarbonize because of their reliance on fossil fuels and high energy needs.
Meta paid for NFI to buy the electric trucks instead of diesel-powered ones. The fleet is expected to collectively travel about 3 million miles over the next six years, preventing about 5,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
“The trucks will continue to run and last,” Branco said. “But for that six-year pilot, it's to prove out this ‘hard to abate’ scenario.”
The Chesapeake warehouse also features 10 new electric chargers to allow drivers to charge on-site. They are DC fast chargers, also known as Level 3, allowing the trucks to reach 80% charge in about 30 minutes.
Electrify America, a business that’s building a network of EV chargers across the U.S., provided them. Dominion Energy handled the infrastructure to support them.
Courtney Young, director of Dominion’s customer energy programs, said NFI took advantage of the utility’s fleet electrification program, which advises customers on what they need to transition to electric vehicles.
“We know that there is benefit of cleaner emissions with helping to electrify these trucks,” Young said. “They benefit not only the company but the community that we serve.”
Heavy-duty vehicle travel is projected to rise nationwide by 50% between 2017 and 2050 because of increased economic activity, such as online shopping, that requires transporting goods.
Officials need to build infrastructure to support future demand, Young said.
After Thursday’s ceremony, truck driver Mohamed Jomni showed off features of one new truck, such as its massive gas-free engine. He demonstrated the method for fueling, plugging an electric cable into a port just below the cab.
Jomni, who’s driven trucks for more than a decade, said he’s enjoying the quieter vehicle on his rounds to the Franklin paper mill and Port of Virginia.
Plus, he no longer has to wait in line at the gas station.
