Daimler Truck North America (DTNA), NextEra Energy Resources, and BlackRock Alternatives have formed a joint venture called Greenlane to develop and operate a nationwide EV charging network in the United States for commercial vehicles. The three companies committed more than $650 million to the venture, which aims to address the lack of publicly available nationwide charging infrastructure for electric trucks.
The launch of the charging infrastructure venture comes at a time when companies are increasingly focused on decarbonizing their value chains, with transport being a significant source of emissions. As such, shippers are expected to face growing pressure to reduce their emissions footprints, including regulatory pressure from the Biden administration to introduce strict emissions reductions from trucks in the coming years.
Greenlane will design, develop, install, and operate a network of zero-emission public charging and hydrogen sites for medium- and heavy-duty battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles along the East and west coasts and in Texas. The company will initially focus on battery-electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, with plans to add hydrogen fueling stations for fuel cell trucks in the future. The JV also intends to expand access to light-duty vehicles in the future.
DTNA President and CEO John O’Leary explained that Greenlane aims to overcome one of the biggest hurdles to decarbonizing the trucking industry, which is infrastructure. He emphasized that the nation’s fleets can only transition to electric vehicles with publicly accessible charging stations that meet the needs of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.
Greenlane’s first charging site will be located in Southern California, and the JV is working on acquiring additional sites on several freight routes. The companies are also developing a custom reservation platform for fleet managers, dispatchers, and drivers.