Environmental Aspects of Freight Transportation A comparison of heavy duty trucks driven on either electricity or diesel in scenarios for the year 2035 along the I-710 corridor in Los Angeles, California, US

Abstract

The use of energy results in different kinds of emissions and the transportation sector is a large contributor. In today’s society, for environ-mental and health reasons, it is of high importance to reduce these emissions. In Los Angeles, California, there is a congested highway, the interstate 710, which is connected to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach where a lot of the traffic consists of trucks transporting goods from the ports into the country. To deal with the congestion there is a project called the I-710 corridor project which is looking into reconstructing the highway with a couple of options. The state of California is among the leaders of reducing the environmental impact from transport and among the options there are suggestions to connect electricity to the highway to make it possible for electric trucks to fully run on electricity while driving on the I-710. The purpose of this study was to make a comparison of the environmental impact of trucks driving along I-710 using the different energy options diesel, which is the most common fuel among trucks today, and electricity in scenarios for the year 2035. This was made by performing a life cycle assessment (LCA) with the help of the programs MOVES and GREET. The results show that using electricity instead of diesel leads to that about a third less energy is needed, about half the amount of greenhouse gases are emitted and that about a fifth up to half of CO, VOC and NOx are emitted while emissions of particulate matter as well as SOx are slightly increased. With these results, the overall finding is that to use electric (hybrid) trucks on the I-710 instead of diesel trucks is a good option for the environment, both locally and globally.