As trucking electrifies, how we prepare the grid must evolve

It took the diesel engine decades to become the standard in America’s trucking industry. The industry’s transition to electric motors is happening a lot faster than that. My organization tracks publicly available electric truck deployments and commitments, and 2023 was a big year. More than 10,000 electric trucks hit the road, and many, many more are on the way, as manufacturers, fleets and state and federal incentives are juicing this essential American market.

Yet we know that powering this new wave of transport isn’t as simple as swapping vehicle models. An electrified trucking industry will require new grid infrastructure across every state and thousands of utility territories. Many of these grid projects require years of planning, analysis, permitting, financing and, finally, execution.

This pace has protected utilities and investors from risk, and customers from paying for unnecessary or too-costly projects. But a quick look at the trends in electric truck deployments in recent years makes it clear that business-as-usual grid modification won’t cut it in the long run. Fleets are often able to procure zero-emissions vehicles and chargers in less than a year. Grid upgrades can take upwards of five or more years.

At this critical juncture, we must ensure regulators and utilities are empowered to quickly and cost-efficiently build the infrastructure to meet this coming demand. In the world of utility planning and regulation, that will require new thinking, approaches and authority.

That’s the crux of a new report from Environmental Defense Fund, which identifies key actions regulators and state legislators can take to allow utilities to get ahead of electricity demand growth affordably, responsibly and quickly.

To read the complete article, visit Utility Dive.