The program provides small drayage fleets the opportunity to gain real-world experience with battery electric trucks.

Emissions & Efficiency

Forum Mobility provides charging for new electric truck program

March 18, 2024

Small drayage fleets can gain real-world experience with battery-electric trucks through the program.

Forum Mobility, a heavy-duty truck charging infrastructure provider, recently became the charging solutions partner for the new ONE Electric Truck Program.

The program was developed by Ocean Network Express, a global container transportation and shipping company, to facilitate the transition to zero-emission vehicles. In this program, small-sized drayage fleets are provided with the opportunity to gain real-world experience operating battery-electric trucks on their daily routes as part of a complimentary three-month lease. BoxLinks, a member of the LX Pantos Group, is ONE's regional partner and will manage the leasing contract and operations for the program.

Forum Mobility will provide the charging for the Class 8 Volvo VNR electric trucks at the FM Harbor charging depot on 260 Pico Avenue, in the heart of the Port of Long Beach in California.

"Forum Mobility's goal is to make the transition to electric trucks easy for carriers of all sizes,” Matt LeDucq, CEO of Forum Mobility, said. “We are proud to be selected by the global shipping leader ONE to supply charging at our FM Harbor depot in Long Beach for this innovative project supporting small fleets.”

There are over 30,000 drayage trucks in California, 80% of which are operated by small fleets or independent owner-operators. By 2035, California policy requires that 100% transition to zero-emission vehicles. Forum Mobility is building a network of heavy-duty truck charging depots in ports and on routes to common freight destinations. For a monthly fee, Forum's staffed and secure depots offer charging, or charging plus a truck together.

The Forum charging depot at the Port of Long Beach will offer 19 dual-port 360 kW chargers and six 360 kW single-dispenser chargers, which can charge 44 trucks simultaneously. More than 200 trucks will be served per day at full capacity. Over the course of the next 10-20 months, the first tranche of Forum Mobility's eight charging depots will come online, each capable of charging about 600 trucks at a time.

"We want to ensure that anyone running diesel has the ability to benefit from going zero emission,” LeDucq said. “Not everyone is able to build their own charging, and for those, we offer an easy, all-inclusive truck charging service. Forum's principals have decades of experience building electric infrastructure—we take on the challenges, costs, and operations of infrastructure so truckers and carriers of all sizes can focus on their business and their customers.”