The US Department of Transportation has announced it will fund an electric truck freight corridor on the West Coast of the United States to tune of $USD102 million (or $150 million AUD).
Managed by the California Department of Transportation, the West Coast Truck Charging and Fueling Corridor Project, will deploy charging and hydrogen fuelling stations for medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks along 2,500 miles (or 4000kms) of freight corridors in California, Oregon and Washington.
The project will allow “emissions-free movement of goods” along the corridor and will connect major ports, freight centres and agricultural regions between the US borders with Mexico and Canada per the grant application.
Construction of the charging stations is expected to start in 2026.
“Decarbonising the transportation and goods movement sectors is essential for fighting the climate crisis and protecting public health in communities along busy corridors,” said California Senator Alex Padilla.
“To successfully meet California’s critical climate goals, we need to scale up our charging and fuelling infrastructure up and down the state through transformative projects like the West Coast Truck Charging and Fueling Corridor Project.”
The Department of Transport announced 51 electric vehicle charging projects totalling $521 million earlier in the week across 29 states and the District of Columbia.
The move follows criticism that it had so far delivered only 11 EV charging stations as part of a bloated and routinely criticised bipartisan infrastructure bill with an election just a few months away in November.
Congress at the urging of the Biden administration agreed in 2021 to spend $7.5 billion to build tens of thousands of electric vehicle chargers across the country.
Money for the latest round of grants including the West Coast truck corridor comes from the CFI grant program, established by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The program provides $2.5 billion over five years to fund EV charging and alternative-fuelling infrastructure to help meet the Biden administration’s goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from cars and trucks.
“The Biden-Harris Administration has taken action to ensure that America leads the EV revolution, and the historic infrastructure package includes resources to support a nationwide EV charger network so that all drivers have an accessible, reliable, and convenient way to charge their vehicles,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
