Electric Mandates Have California Truckers Charging Overtime

They haul lighter loads and spend hours plugged in. Consumers will ultimately foot the bill

By Sierra Dawn McClain of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"After Jan. 1, 2024, any new big rigs IMC [a Tennessee-based drayage trucking company] registers in California have to be powered by hydrogen or electricity."

"has added 10 to 15 hours a week to Mr. Stanley’s workload. California has nowhere near enough chargers to service the number of electric semi trucks that will soon be on the road."

"Mr. Ramos left IMC at 5:30 a.m. He drove 9 miles south to a charging station near the Port of Long Beach, where he remained for an hour, charging the battery from 54% to 90%. He then made his first haul, picking up a container and delivering it to a customer.

A second haul started around noon—and that was it for the day. In a diesel truck, Mr. Ramos said, he could have made six hauls. But even the second one required another visit to the charging station—33 miles out of his way, and another hour and a half of charging. A diesel semi can fuel up in 15 minutes and then drive 1,000 miles—a round trip from Los Angeles to Reno, Nev.—before needing to refuel. Making the same trip, Mr. Ramos’s electric truck would have to make six recharging stops of at least 90 minutes each.

Fewer deliveries mean $400 less a month for Mr. Ramos. Although he gets paid by the hour, he receives a commission for each delivery."

"Many stations are in shopping-center parking lots, where a semi pulling a trailer can’t comfortably fit alongside passenger cars."

"When two trucks draw electricity from the same station at once, he said, the batteries charge more slowly."

"Electric trucks weigh significantly more than their diesel counterparts, giving them less carrying capacity."

"Mr. Stanley, the operations leader, made some calculations. Accounting for higher labor costs and inefficiencies, IMC had lost $310 by operating the electric semi instead of a diesel truck. To break even rather than take the loss, IMC tacked a surcharge onto the delivery. California consumers will ultimately pay for that."