Funding source: Caltrans

Contract number: 65A0686

Funding amount: $100,000

Performance period: January 1, 2022 to December 1, 2022

Research Products: https://ncst.ucdavis.edu/project/routing-battery-electric-heavy-duty-trucks-drayage-operations

Project Description

This research considers strategies that will reduce truck emissions and achieve public health and GHG reduction targets. Freight shipments in urban areas are increasing throughout the world as a result of globalization, rising incomes, and shifting patterns of production and consumption. Urban freight shipments are overwhelmingly made by trucks, which generate significant negative impacts on human health and contribute to GHG emissions. We will examine the potential of battery electric heavy-duty trucks (BEHDTs) for freight operations. We will use optimization and simulation modeling to explore the impacts of using BEHDTs in freight operations (e.g., fleet size) and emissions, taking into account differences in performance and refueling. We will focus on estimated battery technologies for 2025 and 2030. BEHDT applications are limited in the near term due to range and charging limitations, but as BEHDT performance improves and prices go down, they are viable for a larger segment of the market. Specifically, we will focus on heavy duty trucks (HDTs) used in short-haul drayage services, one of the most promising market segments for early adoption. Drayage service is defined as short haul pickup and delivery of goods to and from ports, warehouse and distribution centers, and intermodal facilities. We will study scenarios with different mixture of diesel and battery electric heavy duty trucks and for each scenario we will compute the minimum fleet size to meet the demand and the resulting emissions (e.g., PM2.5, NOX, and CO2).