The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) is thrilled to announce the inaugural incentive program for zero-emission (ZE) trucks and charging deployment in the gateway.

After a competitive bid process, NWSA —  the marine cargo operating partnership of the ports of Seattle and Tacoma — identified Zeem Solutions (Zeem) as the awarded subrecipient with its track record in deployment of ZEVs and charging infrastructure.

"We are grateful for the partner we have found in Zeem. This transition is a necessary but expensive one, and we need all the partners at the table that we can get. Funding from the Washington State Legislature and their recognition of the importance of decarbonizing ports was key to making this happen, and continued investment and partnership will be crucial to future iterations of this program," NWSA Co-Chair and Port of Tacoma Commission President John McCarthy said.

"The absolute scale of the transition for trucks and ports to a zero-emission future is a journey no one entity can do on their own."

NWSA said the program was made possible by a US$6.2 million grant from WSDOT, and the incentives will collectively bring 19 zero-emission trucks and charging to the Puget Sound region.

The Zeem project, NWSA noted, also includes building out a charging site that will enable 250 vehicles to charge per day, with parking capacity for 70 vehicles overnight.

In addition to serving trucks, the Zeem site will serve other fleets operating light-, medium-, and heavy-duty electric commercial vehicles.

NWSA said the charging site will break ground in the Fall of 2025, with the ZEVs expected on the road by 2026. 

This launch of the incentive program and inaugural award follows closely on the heels of the release of the Decarbonizing Drayage Roadmap (the Roadmap). The Roadmap, which was released earlier this year, outlines almost 70 recommendations for getting the full drayage fleet into ZEVs by 2050 or sooner.

It was the product of the Puget Sound Zero Emission Truck Collaborative (the Collaborative), which brings together industry, community, government, and experts to chart a just and equitable transition to ZE drayage.

"This incentive program was designed in tangent with the Roadmap, and utilized the lessons learned and feedback received from the driver community through that process. These incentives were also designed to alleviate cost burden and risk to drivers, and to ensure the co-development of the necessary charging infrastructure," NWSA said.

It added that Zeem is partnering with local drayage providers to ensure that ZE trucks are deployed equitably with minimal impacts to the driver community, who are integral to port operations.

NWSA noted that truck emissions represent about 6% of all seaport-related diesel pollution and about 30% of all seaport-related climate pollution in the region, emissions that disproportionately impact communities living near port operations and along freight corridors.

"This is a major milestone, putting the first zero emission drayage trucks on the road in Washington State," NWSA Managing Member and Port of Seattle Commisioner Sam Cho said.

"We continue to make clear and steady progress, from our overarching strategy with the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy to the Decarbonizing Drayage Roadmap, to the first ZE Class 8 deployment, monumental progress is always the collective outcome of many small steps."