National Grid is leading a two-year study of electric trucking charging needs in the Northeast and will ultimately create 20-year demand forecasts for more than 100 potential charging sites in the region.
Development of the “Northeast Freight Corridors Charging Plan” is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and will also include work with RMI, the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, Clean Communities of Central New York, and DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
National Grid will also coordinate with national non-profit CALSTART, which is receiving DOE support to model charging needs south of National Grid’s study area. The two studies will examine a combined 3,700 miles of highways and freight corridors.
“When integrated together, this broader analysis will span 15 states, supporting more than 300 million tons of freight moving through ports on the East Coast each year, as well as several of the largest cities in the U.S.,” National Grid said Monday.
"Readying our grid infrastructure for electric trucks will require careful planning and close collaboration across state lines," Bart Franey, National Grid’s vice president of clean energy development in New York, said in a statement.
National Grid’s study will focus on highways with heavy trucking traffic and areas with commercial activity like ports. Modeled sites will be in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the New England states.
“This roadmap will inform efforts by states, utilities, communities, and industry leaders to create a seamless truck charging network across the region,” Franey said.
The work will build on National Grid’s “Electric Highways Study,” which was published in 2022 and concluded a large highway fast-charging site could have power demands similar to a small town by 2045.
"This study will help deepen the understanding of electrification needs and help New York State and the region strategically put more medium and heavy-duty electric trucks on the road,” said David Sandbank, vice president of distributed energy resources at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
