New Jersey BPU releases revised draft of electric truck, bus charging proposal

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) released a revised draft of its electric truck and bus charging infrastructure proposal this week.

The proposal is designed to make the state ready for increased adoption of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. It will help bring the state closer to its goal of having 30 percent of truck and bus sales being zero-emission by 2030. It will also comply with the state’s Advanced Clean Trucks rule, which requires medium and heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers to increase their production of zero-emissions vehicles until model year 2035. By 2035, at least 55 percent of all new trucks sold in New Jersey are projected to be electric.

“The revised New Jersey Board of Public Utility’s Medium & Heavy-Duty Electric Vehicle Charging Ecosystem Straw Proposal is a step in the right direction to help the state meet its climate goals and ensure historically overburdened communities realize the benefits of cleaner air and improved health. We are reviewing this proposal and look forward to working with the Board, utilities, and other stakeholders in the new year,” said Mary Barber, director of state affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

According to the EDF, transportation is a leading cause of local air pollution in New Jersey, and trucks are the biggest contributor.

The state has been out in front in terms of electrification of vehicles. In 2019, New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan called for the electrification of the state’s transit fleet, industry partnerships to develop electrification incentives, and expansion of clean transportation options in low- and moderate-income communities that are disproportionately impacted by diesel pollution. In 2020, it signed on to a multi-state memorandum calling for 30 percent of truck and bus sales to be zero emission vehicles by 2030. Then in 2021, the state adopted the Advanced Clean Trucks rule.