New California testing facility aims to scale
heavy-duty electric truck charging

As the Trump administration meanders toward terminating federal support for what it deems an “EV mandate,” 24 states and Washington, D.C., are still actively working on carbon reduction goals that are actually mandated by law.

Heavy-duty (HD) trucking is one of the trickiest variables to solve for in the net-zero equation. Batteries are far less energy-dense than diesel fuel, meaning you need a heavy one to keep a big rig rolling for hours and hours at a time. That complicates weight distribution, especially when hauling payloads. Those big batteries also typically take much longer to charge than a truck could refuel, and to top it all off, the United States lacks adequate charging infrastructure along key freight corridors to enable HD EVs at scale.

A new research center in California will be dedicated to figuring out those messy details.

“This new lab represents a major step forward in accelerating zero-emission freight technologies,” echoed Jasna Tomic, vice president of CALSTART, an industry organization focused on transportation decarbonization and clean air. “It’s exciting to see such strong collaboration across industry, government, and research partners—all coming together to drive real progress in high-power charging and commercial vehicle innovation.”