Last summer, the MSRC, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach entered into a unique partnership to reduce air pollution in Port-adjacent communities. Each Port signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, on behalf of the MSRC, to enable the Ports to partner with the MSRC to provide funding for zero-emission truck charging infrastructure projects to support cleaner goods movement operations. Now, the projects are ready to roll out.
At a total cost of $25 million, the Ports will each contribute $12.5 million to support the installation of more than 150 heavy-duty charging stations at six sites with ties to the Ports. As the project’s Administrator, the MSRC recently authorized nearly $16 million in funding to three infrastructure providers in the first wave of funding.
Clean Energy will receive nearly $3.2 million to install charging stations in Wilmington. Terawatt Infrastructure was awarded approximately $6.8 million for four sites in Rancho Dominguez, Rialto, Fontana, and Commerce. Forum Mobility will receive $6 million to install infrastructure at the Port of Long Beach.
Forum Mobility was the first to complete its project under this partnership. In January, it hosted a ribbon-cutting for its new “FM Harbor” facility, touted as the largest port-based truck charging depot in the nation (see photo). Designed to charge 44 trucks simultaneously, it can serve more than 200 electric drayage trucks daily.
A recent analysis by the Los Angeles Business Council Institute reports that as of June 2024, there are 316 battery-electric and 29 hydrogen-fuel drayage trucks in service at the two Ports. Both Ports are committed to transition to a zero-emission truck fleet by 2035.