Forum Mobility adding electric truck charging depot to Long Beach port

A growing number of planned electric truck charging depots in and around the Port of Long Beach in California is barely scratching the surface of the expected need to keep battery-electric trucks moving to match the uptime efficiency of diesel trucks.

Forum Mobility on Thursday announced a 9-megawatt facility adjacent to the Long Beach Container Terminal. When energized in the third quarter of 2024, the facility will be able to charge more than 200 trucks a day. Forum is part of a $400 million joint venture with CBRE Investment Management and Homecoming Capital.

Nine megawatts is equal to the power needs of a major sports stadium.

“Everybody knows that over the next decade, this is an inevitable transition that’s going to happen. And that charging infrastructure is going to be lacking,” Forum CEO Matt LeDucq told FreightWaves. “Those of us who have that charging infrastructure now are going to have a really good asset.”

The California Energy Commission estimates California needs 157,000 medium- and heavy-duty chargers — 53 a day — by 2030 to meet proposed regulations like the Advanced Clean Truck and Advanced Clean Fleet rules.

Forum building a charging network near key locations

Forum is building a network of charging depots at the ports, along freight corridors and near distribution centers to serve owner-operators and carriers of all sizes, the company said in a news release.

The Port of Long Beach is Forum’s landlord. The port also supports a changing depot activated by another startup, WattEV, earlier this year.

Chino, California-based Talon Logistics Inc. secured dedicated chargers for five Class 8 electric trucks. It has locked up charging certainty that might elude fleets that delay transitioning to electric trucks.

“FM Harbor couldn’t be more convenient — 7,000 trucks a day go into the Port of Long Beach. Our fleet will be one of the few able to charge right next to the terminals,” Talon CEO Emmanuel Carrillo said.

Simultaneous charging for 600 trucks over next 10-20 months

Forum is equipping its FM Harbor location with 19 dual-port 360-kilowatt chargers and six 360 kW single-dispenser chargers. They will be able to charge 44 trucks at one time. Depending on the size of its battery, a Class 8 electric truck could charge in about 90 minutes.

Forum plans charging for 600 trucks simultaneously at eight charging depots over the next 10-20 months.

“Is it getting crowded at the Port of Long Beach, in and around from up [Interstate] 710 out to the Inland Empire? The answer is no,” Leducq said. “You need so much charging infrastructure. We’re doing a couple hundred trucks, hopefully a little bit more than that at our facility at the port. What we’re doing now is a little drop in the bucket.”

In addition to dedicated charging, Forum offers a truck-as-a-service (TaaS) option in which drivers or fleets can access truck and charging services for a single monthly payment.

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Editor: Alan Adler