After years of work, the Northwest Seaport Alliance announced its much-awaited program to deploy zero-emissions trucks earlier this month.
The goal of the inaugural incentive program is to clean up drayage — the short-haul routes that bring freight containers from ports to nearby warehouses and distribution terminals. Currently, secondhand diesel trucks drive the routes, spewing particulate and other toxic emissions into nearby neighborhoods.
At Terminal 46 in Seattle, guests for the announcement got to hop into a brand new all-electric Kenworth semi. A joyful laugh rang out after someone tested its horn. The moment was a long time coming.
Port officials selected California-based Zeem Solutions to run the program and build a new charging facility for the trucks. It will resemble a modern truck stop and will be located roughly mid-way between the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma. Near the new I-5 exit ramp just south of SeaTac Airport and along SR-99, the facility will be close to warehouse and distribution centers that see a large volume of truck deliveries.
Zeem provides a one-stop shop for commercial fleets transitioning to EVs, including charging, parking, vehicle leasing, and maintenance. They offer flat fees, aimed at making the switch more affordable. Based in Los Angles, they operate facilities there and in Inglewood, California. They recently expanded with a new depot near Port Newark, New Jersey. Plans are underway for another in Long Beach, California.
In addition to serving trucks, the Zeem site will serve other fleets operating light, medium, and heavy-duty electric commercial vehicles. It will be able to re-charge as many as 250 zero-emissions vehicles a day and will have overnight parking for up to 70 trucks. Zeem is also helping place 19 of Kenworth’s battery-electric semis with local trucking companies.
“These 19 trucks will be the beginning, and we expect to have hundreds of trucks operating out of that SeaTac site,” Paul Gioupis, CEO of Zeem, told the crowd.
“We're also looking at properties actively today, right now, in the Seattle port, and we're also looking in the Tacoma port, where we're going to see ourselves growing here the next few years,” he said.
Supporting local drivers
Samy Zewdu, the owner operator of Seattle-based Ephrata Trucking is buying eight of the 19 trucks, which are heavily subsidized. They cost more than $300,000 each. However, Zewdu said he only has to pay 20% of the cost out of pocket. The ports’ program will cover the rest.
“They do like 80%,” he said, looking toward one of the trucks on display. “That helps a lot.”
He said that he already has shipping customers asking for zero-emissions transportation for their goods – and prospects for even more of that kind of business. So he’s going all in and working with Zeem to ensure he has adequate parking and charging.
“If you bring electric trucks, yeah, we're gonna get a more jobs – we got offers,” he said.
Zewdu is one of six local fleet operators taking part in this new program, each with different levels of involvement. Some are leasing the trucks to keep costs lower.
The incentive program was designed with input from the driver community, many of whom felt they were left behind in previous pilot programs to bring electric trucks to the region’s ports.
This time, the Puget Sound Zero Emissions Truck Collaborative developed and followed a Decarbonizing Drayage Roadmap, with feedback from the driver community and a goal of distributing the new trucks equitably and with minimal impacts to the driver community.
The roadmap outlines almost 70 recommendations for getting the full drayage fleet into ZEVs by 2050 or sooner. Efforts also centered on alleviating the cost burden for the drivers and ensuring that they have adequate access to charging and parking facilities.
The Kenworth trucks still only have a range of about 200 miles, which is why Zewdu said he is buying so many. He will need to use them in shifts while some are charging. But with no diesel to buy, the operating costs will be far lower. And they won’t pollute the neighborhoods they drive through every day.
Cleaning up the dirtiest trucks
“And by the way, not only is it cleaner and cheaper, we're not emitting greenhouse gasses,” said Joel Creswell, who leads the climate pollution reduction program at the state Department of Ecology.
He said the diesel trucks currently used for drayage are some of the worst polluters on our roads.
“And so we're massively reducing our contributions to climate change,” Creswell said.
He said this project marks a key turning point, because without its incentives, the drivers just could not afford to make this switch.
Some still feel they cannot. There are about 4,000 drayage drivers in the region. And only subsidized 19 trucks initially in this program.
“It is a great initiative,” wrote Dawit Habte in a text to KNKX. He owns Afar Trucking, with facilities in Tacoma and Seattle. “I hope the momentum continues across the industries.”
Habte said he is holding off for now on getting into any of the new trucks. The current economic environment is just too challenging with so much uncertainty due to the Trump administration’s tariffs, he said. Shipping volumes are down, and with them, drayage contracts.
With the infrastructure in place and the first electric trucks demonstrating successful use, Creswell and others also hope the momentum for the whole sector will grow.
Groundbreaking for the charging facility is expected this fall.
