Southern Californians may soon see some heavy-duty electric Amazon trucks on the roads.
KNX News’ Nataly Tavidian reported nearly 50 of these electric trucks are being rolled out across the region. They’re expected to travel more than a combined one million miles each year. The trucks started to hit the roads at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, with about a dozen expected to be on the streets by the end of the year.
“The climate crisis is obviously an existential one and it is a long term one. Make no mistake though, decarbonizing the heavy-duty sector in particular yields immediate benefits including health benefits, literally saving lives in the South coast air basin,” said Yana Garcia, the Secretary for Environmental Protection. “Wilmington, it is a place where our residents suffer from the impacts of far too many pollution sources.”
"California continues to lead the way in setting world-leading climate goals. No other state has created the kind of environment where Amazon and other businesses can lead on sustainability and take major steps forward like deploying this fleet of electric trucks,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a press release.
Want to get caught up on what's happening in SoCal every weekday afternoon? Click to follow The L.A. Local wherever you get podcasts.
The battery-electric Class 8 Volvo VNR trucks have a range of up to 275 miles and a combination weight of 82,000 pounds. The trucks will feature lane departure warnings, lane keeping assistance, blind-spot detections, adaptive cruise control, and active collision mitigation.
There are about 20,000 trucks registered to do business at the port of Los Angeles and a little less than 300 are a variety of zero-emission.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok