Electric vehicles charging ahead at Port of San Diego

ARFVTP Investment

ARFVTP invests up to $100 million per year in project areas to advance the state’s goals on climate change, air quality and zero-emission vehicle adoption and deployment. Among these investments are California’s West Coast Electric Highway which are a network of direct current (DC) fast chargers from Baja to British Columbia, construction of dozens of retail hydrogen fueling stations and deployment of numerous alternative fuel and zero-emission vehicle and equipment technologies, according to SDPTA in a recent interview with the American Journal of Transportation. Furthermore, Port of San Diego is one of five California ports involved in the former Governor Brown’s July 2015 Executive Order (B-32-15) to develop and implement the California Sustainable Freight Action Plan and the Ports Energy Collaborative for opportunities in transitioning to alternative and renewable energy technologies. 

The $5.9 million grant from ARFVTP is an important incentive to several tenants of SDPTA. “Seven of the 10 electric vehicles are being demonstrated by three of our Port Tenant-End Users,” said Chelsea Bernie, Special Projects, SDPTA. Dole Fresh Fruit is demonstrating 2 Build Your Dream (BYD) class 8 yard trucks at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal. Marine Group Boat Works, LLC, a family owned full-service boat and super yacht refit and repair facility, is demonstrating 2 Cummins 12,000 pound electric forklifts. Pasha Automotive Services (PAS), a family-owned global logistics and transportation company at the Port’s National City Marine Terminal, is demonstrating one BYD class 8 yard truck and two BYD class 8 drayage trucks. The two drayage trucks are used to shuttle newly imported cars on a flatbed trailer from the Terminal, while the yard truck is an off-road utility vehicle for various yard operations.

All the demonstrations are going as planned and the overall comments for the project are positive. Ms. Bernie remarked, “The development period for each of the vehicles provides the opportunity for each demonstrator to give feedback on changes and modifications to the EVs to suit their needs. This is a valuable aspect of the grant-funded demonstration projects allowing the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to get detailed information from potential customers.” Later this year, HII San Diego Shipyard Inc., a repair facility to the United States Navy warships, will demonstrate a 40,000-pound forklift from TransPower; and Terminalift, a specialized cargo handling company owned by General Dynamics NASSCO, will demonstrate two class 8 drayage trucks by an OEM vendor to be named later.