MHX, LLC, a full-service logistics operations company, has added 10 Kenworth T680E battery-electric Class 8 trucks to its fleet at its anchor facility in Fontana. These new e-trucks are part of the company’s pilot program to eventually transition its current fleet of 75 heavy-duty diesel trucks in California to zero-emission.
Through the Zero- and Near-Zero Inland Ports Goods Movement Program, the MSRC awarded MHX $1.9 million in Clean Transportation Funding for the 10 electric trucks and 3 EVgo DCFC Delta 350kW charging stations. This program was designed to assist warehouses, distribution centers, logistics facilities, and intermodal hubs located in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties to transition to zero- and near-zero emission goods movement operations.
These trucks have a range of approximately 150 miles and take less than three-and-a-half hours to fully charge. To maximize their operations and charging times, MHX developed an opportunity charging strategy to capture the time for charging during the loading process, which takes about 30 minutes. For example, each truck takes about six loads per day, resulting in about three hours of combined charging opportunity. This leaves just 20-30 minutes of “top-off” charge at the end of the day to fully recharge. Thus, they designed the charger layout at their facility to innovatively align with this strategy and installed one charger in the loading bay, another charger in the area where the cargo is secured, and a third charger in the truck parking area.
In implementing their pilot program, MHX acknowledged the critical importance of the MSRC’s grant funding and other public dollars that helped make the project possible by helping to offset the higher upfront cost of the electric trucks and charging infrastructure. Without the public financial support, the cost of charging infrastructure would have put the company’s all-in cost-per-mile above that of diesel and would have significantly slowed their ability to transition to electric trucks. Additional incentive programs from Southern California Edison and implementation of their opportunity charging strategy will ultimately enable the company to achieve an estimated fueling cost of less than $1.00 per mile.