Electric charging station for big trucks to open in California

OAKLAND, Calif. — Forum Mobility, a freight electrification provider, has announced plans to construct a heavy-duty truck charging depot at the Port of Long Beach in California.

The depot will provide high-speed charging infrastructure for hundreds of drayage trucks per day, supporting the transition of the state’s drayage fleet to zero-emission, according to a news release.

“Forum is building dedicated infrastructure for heavy-duty trucks to transition from diesel to electricity. With the support of the Port of Long Beach, the FM Harbor depot will provide drayage truckers a turn-key solution to comply with California Air Resource Board regulations. At Forum Mobility facilities like this one, fleets can make the transition simply and without using their own capital,” said Matt LeDucq, CEO and co-founder of Forum Mobility. “Forum is building a network of charging depots at the ports, along freight corridors and near distribution centers to serve owner-operators and carriers of all sizes. We make it easy to go electric.”

Talon Logistics Inc., a national drayage carrier based in Chino, California, has already secured dedicated charging at FM Harbor.

“Talon Logistics prides itself in being a trendset leader and Forum is our trusted infrastructure partner. Securing fully-staffed and dedicated charging inside the port makes us pioneers in the space, which puts us ahead of the competition,” said Emmanuel Carrillo, Talon’s chief executive officer. “FM Harbor couldn’t be more convenient — 7,000 trucks a day go into the Port of Long Beach, and our fleet will be one of the few able to charge right next to the terminals. Forum’s turnkey charging solution allows me to focus on growing my business and serving my customers.”

Forum’s Port of Long Beach charging depot will offer 19 dual-port 360 kW chargers and six 360 kW single-dispenser chargers, which will be able to charge 44 trucks simultaneously, with the ability to charge an electric Class-8 truck in about 90 minutes, depending on battery size, the news release notes.

The depot will be fully staffed and is scheduled to be online fall of 2024.

At full capacity, it will serve over 200 trucks a day, the company says.

The site is located at 260 Pico Street, adjacent to the Long Beach Container Terminal. Elemental Excelerator provided supportive funding.

Forum Mobility’s first tranche of eight charging depots, with capacity to charge about 600 trucks simultaneously, is scheduled to come online over the next 10-20 months, company officials say.

“It is encouraging to see Forum Mobility investing in crucial charging infrastructure to help drayage carriers meet zero emissions mandates coming from the State of California. We appreciate their dedicated engagement with the Harbor Trucking community and are proud to have them as members of our organization,” said Matt Schrap, CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association.

The California Air Resources Board is requiring all of California’s drayage fleet — approximately 33,000 class 8 trucks — to be zero-emission by 2035. Charging infrastructure is a key ingredient for success: the California Energy Commission estimates that to comply with the Advanced Clean Fleet and other regulations, California will need 157,000 medium and heavy-duty chargers by 2030.

Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and raised in East Texas, John Worthen returned to his home state to attend college in 1998 and decided to make his life in The Natural State. Worthen is a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry and has covered just about every topic there is. He has a passion for writing and telling stories. He has worked as a beat reporter and bureau chief for a statewide newspaper and as managing editor of a regional newspaper in Arkansas. Additionally, Worthen has been a prolific freelance journalist for two decades, and has been published in several travel magazines and on travel websites.

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