While trucks may only represent a small share of the traffic in urban areas, they generate more than half of overall emissions for specific contaminants (Jaller et al., 2016). One of the approaches to contend with such issues is to promote the use of new technologies and alternative fuel pathways. This work conducts an empirical assessment of the economic and driving patterns of trucks used for last mile delivery given the increase in these vehicles serving even more densely populated areas (compared to the long-haul transport). The work concentrates on parcel deliveries, as they are typically used to transport the goods resulting from the rapidly growing e-commerce demand. The authors evaluate the performance by analyzing real driving data from parcel fleets (Walkowicz et al., 2014; Jaller et al., 2017a), and use the data to conduct life-cycle assessments (LCA) to estimate the various impacts. The contributions of the work are: 1) comparison analyses between parcel delivery driving data with other delivery vocations to identify different freight patterns. The analyses show the differences and similarities between the driving patterns when using different drivetrains for a number of parcel delivery vocations. 2) Estimation of delivery tour length distributions (TLDs), and specific fuel consumption (SFC) for different drivetrains and vehicle classes. And, 3) estimate the total cost of ownership (TCO), including externalities, of different truck technologies under numerous scenarios that assume changes in fuel efficiency and incentives of certain drivetrains. Additional sensitivity analyses are conducted to identify the key parameters that affect the TCO. Among these, the analyses show the efficiency of purchase and use incentives for these technologies. The results can be extrapolated to a system-wide scope for similar vocations with common operational variables and explore the benefits and costs of transitioning to zero-emission technologies.

This project identifies factors that affect three truck-related parameters: idling, searching for parking, and parking demand. These parameters are examined in communities in Kern County California that have high air pollution levels and are located near transportation corridors, industrial facilities, and logistics centers. Daytime truck idling is concentrated in and around commercial and industrial hubs, and nighttime idling is concentrated around major roads and highway entrances and exits. Truck idling, searching for parking, and parking demand correlate with shorter distances from freight-related points-of-interest such as warehouses, increased size of nearby industrial or commercial land use, and proximity to areas of dense population or income inequality. Based onthese findings, policy recommendations include targeted anti-idling interventions, improved truck parking facilities,parking systems that provide real-time availability information to drivers, provision of alternate power sources in parkingfacilities to allow trucks to turn off, cleaner fuels and technologies, enhanced routing efficiency, stricter emission standards, and stronger land-use planning with buffer zones around residential areas.

Zero-emission long-haul trucking technologies are being developed that can play a critical role in achieving California’s climate change goals and virtually eliminate air pollution from these vehicles.  Hydrogen fuel-cell electric, catenary electric and dynamic inductive charging technologies are being demonstrated in small scale projects worldwide. In this study, these three zero-emission truck technologies were reviewed in detail and vehicle and infrastructure challenges and costs for each of the technologies assessed. In the near- to mid-term, electrifying the entire California state highway system or deploying large hydrogen stations at many statewide truck stops would require very large capital costs, on the order of billions of dollars, even though, at least initially, there will likely be relatively few zero-emission long-haul trucks in use.  Considering technology readiness, energy efficiency, and capital cost, the most feasible approach for the zero-emission technologies for long-haul trucks may be to deploy local or regional catenary systems. Dynamic inductive charge systems could be introduced, though with perhaps more disruption as roadways are prepared for this service. Hydrogen fuel cell trucks will benefit from some scalability but will require large hydrogen refueling stations along highways. The initial “up-front” investment in infrastructure for hydrogen trucks appears somewhat lower than for the other two options but the cost of providing hydrogen to vehicles will be high, especially if provided using electrolysis.  In the longer-term, all three of the technologies could become economically competitive with diesel trucking, though this depends on many factors and uncertainties.

California’s truck fleet composition is shifting to include more natural gas vehicles (NGVs), electric vehicles (EVs), and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), and it will shift more quickly to meet state greenhouse gas (GHG) emission goals. These alternative fuel trucks (AFTs) may introduce heavier axle loads, which may increase pavement damage and GHG emissions from work to maintain pavements. This project aimed to provide conceptual-level estimates of the effects of vehicle fleet changes on road and bridge infrastructure. Three AFT implementation scenarios were analyzed using typical Calif. state and local pavement structures, and a federal study’s results were used to assess the effects on bridges. This study found that more NGV, EV, and FC trucks are expected among short-haul and medium-duty vehicles than among long-haul vehicles, for which range issues arise with EVs and FCs. But the estimates predicted that by 2050, alternative fuels would power 25–70% of long-haul and 40–95% of short-haul and medium-duty trucks. AFT implementation is expected to be focused in the 11 counties with the greatest freight traffic—primarily urban counties along major freight corridors. Results from the implementation scenarios suggest that introducing heavier AFTs will only result in minimal additional pavement damage, with its extent dependent on the pavement structure and AFT implementation scenario. Although allowing weight increases of up to 2,000 lbs. is unlikely to cause major issues on more modern bridges, the effects of truck concentrations at those new limits on inadequate bridges needs more careful evaluation. The study’s most aggressive market penetration scenario yielded an approximate net reduction in annual well-to-wheel truck propulsion emissions of 1,200–2,700 kT per year of CO2 -e by 2030, and 6,300–34,000 kT by 2050 versus current truck technologies. Negligible effects on GHG emissions from pavement maintenance and rehabilitation resulted from AFT implementation.