Q&A: Charging Towards Electric Heavy-Duty Transportation | Article

Imagine a city where the buses, transit systems, and other large trucks run quietly through the city without spewing anything out of their tailpipes. The cleaner air alone makes the transition to electric heavy-duty transportation enticing. While most states and cities are only in their pilot phases of integrating electric transportation into the fabric of their communities, there are significant opportunities to scale-up these first investments—especially once the electric charging infrastructure is ready to roll. EESI connected with Jonah Crespo, Director of Aftersales at Heliox, a heavy-duty transportation charging company based in Atlanta, Georgia, to discuss the state of the industry as of fall 2022 and how he sees electrification scaling in the years ahead.

EESI: Could you tell me a little bit about Heliox?

Crespo: Heliox is a leading manufacturer for heavy-duty electric transportation charging. What differentiates heavy-duty charging from other types of fleet charging or public charging is that it is tailored toward transit and trucking. Heliox’s products are simple, robust, and able to charge at much higher rates than most public charging stations.

EESI: Where do you see the current interest in heavy-duty transportation electrification? What are the biggest opportunities and barriers to large-scale adoption?

Crespo: The biggest push right now—and our biggest customers—are in transit. COVID slowed down electrification across many industries, but thanks to federal money through Low or No Emission Vehicle Program grants, transit kept pushing along. At Heliox, we are seeing a lot of transportation fleets of all sizes still pushing their electrification pilots. States and cities such as California and the District of Columbia have aggressive electrification policies now, especially toward public vehicle fleets, and this is going to drive adoption and help consumers get acclimated to these new modes of transportation by seeing them.

The switch to electric transportation is like what a lot of customers felt when they moved to natural gas fueling. They said, ‘How am I going to deal with moving from diesel to natural gas? You need huge facilities for natural gas, as well as engineers and maintenance personnel that understand natural gas.’ Yet many fleets still made the switch.

With electrification, there is a similar concern. However, a key difference is that facilities have all had electricity for a long time. Certain hurdles remain, especially because transit and public fleets are typically very risk averse, but as the dollar per mile comes down, heavy-duty electric vehicles are becoming increasingly practical for those fleets.

EESI: How can charging infrastructure installed today be future proofed so it can support electric transportation for the long run?

Crespo: I see people doing a lot of work twice. Right now, locations most often plan to install a few chargers to meet their immediate needs. Then it takes 12 to 18 months to get the power there. Then a year after that, their charging needs have doubled or tripled, forcing them through that process again.

The lesson is to plan for growth and to put in power not for the demand now or in two years, but for 10 or 15 years down the road. In 10 years, the charging landscape may have evolved. It might be possible to install twice as many chargers, or chargers twice as powerful, for the same cost—provided you can supply the power. It may be more expensive to do it right the first time, but in the long term it is the better investment, and it causes less disruption.

EESI: How do you work with utilities? What impact will heavy-duty electric vehicle charging have on the grid?

Crespo: Utilities are some of our greatest allies. They are interested in electrification, and they see the need for it. They also want to control it, especially in heavy-duty applications. Typically, fleets all come in right at the end of the shift, get washed, get ready, and get charged at the same time. That creates a huge energy demand, even though it is off-peak, which is something that utilities may or may not want. Heliox has a simulation that models how to flatten that energy demand curve.

Flattening the energy demand curve through managed charging. Credit: Heliox

Something that we have not seen at scale yet, but could be huge in the market, is having smart control—like time-of-use pricing—where electric transportation can pull power from the grid when there is excess power and create stability for the power system. The other important thing is going to be vehicle-to-grid, where the vehicle can both receive power from the grid and give it back. Heliox is diving into this technology with both feet.

There are a lot of good companies out there, like Fermata Energy, that are creating vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems and supplying test cases where fleets can make money by supplying energy and services back to utilities. It is utility controlled, so utilities would communicate with the vehicles to store or request power. Instead of just being a parked asset for 16 or 20 hours a day, it the vehicle is now a distributed energy resource that increases stability and uptime to the grid. This not only benefits people in urban areas with higher utilization, but also those in disadvantaged areas and places that struggle to access enough power.

EESI: What are the electrification opportunities in the shipping industry?

Crespo: Where Heliox sees a lot of push is in the port yards where small trucks and service vehicles move shipping containers off boats and onto 18-wheelers or trains. This type of location requires near-constant uptime for its vehicles while never having them too far from their base of operations. With high-power charging stations on site that can replenish their trucks’ batteries in a matter of minutes, these locations are ideal candidates for electrification. We are already seeing this model being successfully implemented in port yards across America—from Portland, Oregon, and Stockton, California, to Charleston, South Carolina.

By contrast, long-haul trucking, long-haul shipping, and air travel will likely be the last frontiers of electrification. For it to become a reality in these sectors, we need improvements both in battery technology, vehicle efficiency, and a more robust network of accessible high-power electric vehicle charging. But if the industry keeps moving at the rate we are going, this last frontier might be closer than we think.

EESI: What sorts of workforce opportunities are coming about as a result of transportation electrification?

Crespo: There are jobs for electrically-minded folks, but also jobs on the software side. A lot of this work can be done remotely, including being able to work on Heliox’s thousands of resources throughout North America to troubleshoot and fix issues. Heliox has a lot of engineers and people with strong business backgrounds. Electrification also creates a lot of potential for people with vocational and trade skills. This is typically high-paid and specialized work that is also transferable to industrial or Internet of Things settings. Heliox is planning to launch a program in Atlanta, Georgia, to provide workforce training to people in the region.

EESI: How do you suggest people learn more about heavy-duty transportation electrification?

Crespo: The best way to learn more is to just get on an electric bus—feel how it moves, listen to it run, talk to the drivers. All the drivers love them—they pick up and go so quickly. This is especially useful for buses because of their stop-and-go nature. It just makes the ride so much more enjoyable. Electric vehicles are also so much quieter than diesel. It is a bit shocking how much of an impact a few electric buses can have on noise pollution.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has visited one of Heliox’s sites, but you do not need to be a government official to experience an electric bus. Chances are there are a few in operation near where you live that you can get on for the cost of a bus fare. In fact, Heliox supports one of the most intensive urban routes in Los Angeles, California, which will be completely electrified by next year. Electric bus fleets really provide their surrounding neighborhoods with a better overall benefit by operating in neighborhoods much cleaner and much quieter.

Having grown up in Brooklyn, I have always known buses to be these loud, smelly monstrosities chugging down the street. So, you take the subway, which is a modest improvement, but puts you deep underground in these dingy tunnels. Now, thanks to electric buses, you get to reacquaint yourself with your city. You get to ride above ground and see all these neighborhoods you would previously pass underneath while still having an enjoyable riding experience.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Author: Anna McGinn