TANY president testifies on inadequate electric charging infrastructure in New York

NEW YORK — Kendra Hems, president of the Trucking Association of New York (TANY) testified on Jan. 23 before the New York State Assembly Standing Committees on Transportation and Energy’s public hearing to review the status of charging stations available to the public for zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) on roadways across the state.

“As part of our mission, we provide compliance assistance, safety programs and educational opportunities to our members,” Hems said in her testimony. “As our industry continues to meet the needs of a new environmental era, our mission also extends to advocating for the infrastructure which will power the next generation of American trucks. I am here before you today to address the significant challenges which are limiting our operator’s ability to achieve our shared goal to reduce emissions through electrification.”

Lack of Infrastructure

“Currently, the lack of charging infrastructure in New York for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles is a significant hurdle to the adoption of battery electric trucks,” Hems said. “In fact, there is not a single, publicly available on-highway charging station built for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. For regional and over-the-road operations, the lack of charging stations makes it impossible for trucking fleets to transition to battery-electric vehicles. While there are applications for local and last-mile operations that utilize smaller cargo vans and delivery trucks, the capacity of the grid, the cost of the charging station and the time it takes to install can also create impediments to transition to electric vehicles.”

According to Hems, commercial charging at public rest stops is not allowable under federal law. This limitation stems from a 1956 regulation that restricts any commercial activity at public rest areas, including fueling or restaurants (although some grandfather clauses exist such as on the NYS Thruway). This regulation presents myriad challenges to public rest area charging. The likely consequence and implications are that truck charging fees either could not be assessed at public rest areas, could not exceed direct electricity costs, and that private sector entities could not provide charging services.

Advocating for the Trucking Industry

Since 1932, TANY has advocated on behalf of the trucking industry at all levels of government. The groups is the voice of the trucking industry throughout the state. They stand in support of creating jobs, supporting the economy, driving safety and delivering a sustainable future for our members.

“The trucking industry is proud of its decades-long efforts to reduce emissions while meeting America’s growing freight needs,” Hems said. “Since the implementation of clean diesel technology in 1974, pollutants have been reduced by 99 percent. Consider that 60 trucks on the road today equal the output of one in 1988. This success came as a result of the trucking industry working collaboratively with government, establishing achievable standards that made sense. While exciting new technologies offer the promise of further reductions, our path forward on zero-emissions vehicles requires time for infrastructure to be built out and for the trucking market to mature to support the next generation of vehicles.”

Call for Change

“Absent a change in this rule, which history shows us will be difficult to achieve, the likely scenario will be the building of off-highway charging depots,” Hems said. “This will present significant challenges as well, including identifying the locations where depot charging will be located, the acquisition of land to build, and the amount of energy required to support the charging needs. It’s important to note that we already lack adequate truck parking for our professional truck drivers. A recent study by the American Transportation Research Institute found that using today’s truck and charging requirements, more chargers will be needed than there are parking spaces. The study also looked at energy needs and found that at a single rural rest area, the truck charging needs would require enough daily electricity to power more than 5,000 U.S. households.”

In April 2023, the NYS Department of Public Service instituted a Proceeding to Address Barriers to Medium- and Heavy-Duty Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure. TANY submitted comments to that proceeding. Additionally, included as part of the enacted FY 2025 budget, the NYS Energy and Research Department, in consultation with other state agencies, was directed to conduct a medium- and heavy-duty charging needs evaluation. The study is supposed to be completed within 18 months of the effective date of April 1, 2024.

Advanced Clean Air Act

“We do not know the status of that needs evaluation and whether it will be completed on time,” Hems said. “These studies are critically important to identify what investments are needed and where those investments must be made to support the transition to zero emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Unfortunately, they are happening concurrently with the state’s implementation of the Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) regulations, creating significant economic and operational challenges for our state’s heavy duty truck dealers and trucking companies.”

According to Hems, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation adopted the ACT in December of 2021 with an implementation date of January 1, 2025. The rule requires medium- and heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers to sell an increasing number of zero-emission vehicles in New York to be able to continue to sell internal combustion engine vehicles.

“During the public hearing process TANY expressed our concerns that New York was not ready to implement a sales mandate of zero emission vehicles,” Hems said. “Following the adoption of the rule, I contacted DEC to ask what the plan was to support the implementation of the ACT and was told that they were beginning to work on it. As previously mentioned, studies on the electrification needs were just started in 2023 and 2024 and to date, the state has not made any progress toward building the charging infrastructure to support the industry. New York is woefully behind and is putting vehicle manufacturers and truck dealers in a situation where they simply cannot comply with this mandate. Trucking companies are not going to buy vehicles that they cannot use.”

No Incentives

“For a trucking company, the lack of charging infrastructure is a major disincentive to purchasing zero emission trucks,” Hems said. “Additionally, the cost, the limited range and the weight of these trucks are also significant hurdles that many companies cannot overcome at this time. The range concern is directly tied to the lack of available charging. A typical diesel truck can drive between 1,800 – 2,000 miles before needing to refuel and refueling can be accomplished within 20 minutes time. Alternatively, a battery electric truck has a range of approximately 200 miles depending on the class of vehicle. Charging the vehicle can take at least four to five consecutive hours.”

More Charging Infrastructure Needed

“This discrepancy also raises the question about the number of charges needed to support the charging requirements of the trucking industry,” Hems said. “New York should note that the California Energy Commission identified a need for 157,000 direct current fast chargers (DCFC) to support 180,000 medium- and heavy-duty battery electric trucks. This is nearly a 1 to 1 ratio of chargers to trucks. To reiterate my earlier statement, TANY is fully supportive of shifting the industry to cleaner vehicles, but it must be done in a commonsense way, taking into consideration the numerous challenges that must be overcome to support their use—which includes building out our electric charging infrastructure, which simply does not exist today.”

Hems noted that without the supporting infrastructure, implementation of the ACT rule is premature and is already having significant negative impacts on our truck dealers and their customers – “our trucking companies.”

“DEC will tell you that they are providing flexibility and delaying enforcement of the rule until March of 2029,” Hems said. “This is not helpful as manufacturers will continue to accrue deficits, which they will not be able to make up for the reasons that I’ve already addressed. Manufacturers know they will not be able to make the deficit up, so they have severely limited the ability for truck dealers to sell new equipment. For our trucking companies, that means that they are unable to purchase new trucks in the state of New York, forcing them to keep older trucks on the road longer.”

Red Tape

“While all of the bureaucratic discussions are being had, what is lost are the impacts on the hardworking New Yorkers, and New York based businesses that are being brought to their knees.” Hems said. “We all have to do better. We share a goal – we need to help each other reach that goal.”

How to Move Forward

“First, DEC must stop the implementation of the ACT rule,” Hems said. “Forcing a mandate on an industry before the support for that mandate exists is a no-win situation, period. Additionally, we have to recognize that you can’t sweep a broad brush toward electrification on an industry that is as diverse as the trucking industry. Rather, we should work together to identify applications, such as last mile and urban delivery, that are ripe for electrification and work on incentives to shift those operations. Second, the highway and depot charging needs evaluation must be completed in order to develop the road map to transition other applications to near-zero and zero emission technology. And third, DEC should work with this committee, the trucking industry and impacted communities to develop sound policy that addresses the myriad challenges toward the transition to zero-emission technology.”

Preserving New York’s Trucking Industry

“Doing so will help preserve New York’s trucking industry, the communities that rely upon our members, and the small businesses which make up the fabric of this state,” Hems said. “After all, 90% of communities in New York State rely on trucks to provide the majority of their goods. This is a critical step to save industry jobs, prop up our supply chain, and maintain affordability in the state – a preeminent focus of the Governor’s State of the State address. Only by working together can we bring about immediate change for New Yorkers and pave the way for a greener more sustainable future.”

Embattled Industry

The trucking industry in New York is already battling the newly enacted congestion pricing, which has only added to the industry’s woes.

“We appreciate the efforts of this committee to provide real solutions for New Yorkers by seeking to advance electric vehicle charging capacity throughout the state and I thank you for affording me the time to speak today,” Hems concluded.

Dana Guthrie

Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.