Landmark study for a ($1 trillion) landmark strategy

Posted March 22, 2024

The Biden-Harris Administration recently released the National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy to help guide zero-emission charging and fueling structures around the country. This landmark deployment strategy, planned for 2024-2040, helps bring the nation closer to cleaner air, promotes major savings in fuel costs, and overall transforms freight transportation in the U.S.

The four-phase plan includes:

• Establishing priority hubs based on freight volumes,
• Connecting hubs along critical corridors,
• Expanding corridor connections, and
• Achieving a national network by linking regional corridors.

Each phase is expected to take 3-5 years to complete.

$1 trillion cost projection

A recent report from Roland Berger released by the Clean Freight Coalition projected the costs (up to $1 trillion) that would come with electrifying the supply chain for medium and heavy-duty commercial motor vehicles.

Some key findings from the report include:

• Investment in charging infrastructure: The industry might need to invest over $600 billion into charging infrastructure to electrify all U.S. motor vehicles.
• Different infrastructure requirements for different vehicle types: Local medium-duty vehicles could require an investment of nearly $500 billion for on-site charging infrastructure. Heavy-duty vehicles would require even more significant charging infrastructure — potentially more than double the investment of medium-duty vehicles per vehicle.
• Challenges and additional investments: High mileage and long-haul vehicles would require a significant investment into an available charging network, both on-route along highways and locally. These investments could cost over $120 billion and would require both government involvement and business innovation.

The Roland Berger report’s findings stress the importance of cross-industry collaboration to increase the odds of the project's success.

Find more details in the full report "Forecasting a Realistic Electricity Infrastructure Buildout for Medium- & Heavy-Duty Battery Electric Vehicles". 

This article was written by Lucero Truszkowski of J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.