Edwin Buenrostro moves at a fast pace, expertly using metal hooks to move an 8-foot stack of heavy boxes in the back of a huge semi truck.
“Man, this one’s heavy,” he said with a chuckle. He slips a dolly under the stack and rolls it over to the liftgate, then across a parking lot and into a Starbucks.
To keep that food fresh, the truck needs to stay running at every stop along Buenrostro’s 14-hour shift. It takes him about a half hour to unload at each stop, which number from 11 to 16 per day.
I stand by the liftgate behind the truck as Buenrostro unloads. Even though the truck is idling, there’s no diesel exhaust or rumbling engine. Buenrostro is one of the first drivers behind the wheel of an electric Volvo big rig, bought by the company he works for: Quality Custom Distribution, or QCD, a division of Golden State Foods, one of the largest restaurant distribution companies in the U.S.
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Medium- and heavy-duty trucks make up only 6% of vehicles on California roads, but they spew about 9% of the state’s total greenhouse gas emissions and nearly half the pollutants that cause smog, according to the California Air Resources Board, or CARB.
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That’s why a state mandate passed in April requires fleets of 50 or more trucks to be electric or hydrogen-powered by 2042. Port trucks, government fleets and “last-mile” delivery companies are required to transition sooner — by 2035.
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And the world's largest truck manufacturers just struck a deal with California that they'll stop selling diesel and gas big rig trucks by 2036, regardless of any legal battles that may come up to slow the policy. (That's what happened with the state's electric car rules, which faced legal pushback from the auto industry and the Trump Administration).
The 32-year-old Buenrostro drives about 57 miles a day, making deliveries to Starbucks across Fontana and nearby communities. He drove diesel trucks for about 11 years, but has been in this electric one for about seven months now — and there’s a big difference.
“My first thought was how quiet they are,” Buenrostro said. “I was surprised because I'm so used to the vibration of the sound, the noise, the exhaust, the fumes, the heat coming out of the bottom of the cab …and now it’s a whole totally different story.”
He used to hate how hot the cab got in the summer. "It feels like 190 degrees just burning the bottom of your legs,” he said.
But he said the electric truck doesn’t get nearly as hot. There are also no fumes getting into the cab. He said one of his coworkers suffered severe headaches as a result of that.
“So that's toxic for us,” Buenrostro said. “We're in this truck 14 hours a day.”
Born in West Covina, raised in El Monte and Fontana and now a resident of Apple Valley, Buenrostro got his first taste of trucking at 15 years old, when a family friend who trucked brought him along on a haul to Utah.
“The first thing I fell in love with was the view,” Buenrostro said. “Seeing something that you don't see every day.”
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For five years, he drove 400 to 600 miles a day, traveling through tornadoes, snowy mountains, and vast, beautiful landscapes. He estimates he's traversed about half the country.
But it became harder to say goodbye to his girlfriend for weeks on end. And now a father of three little ones, he wants to stay closer to home.
He landed a job with QCD six years ago, doing what’s called “last-mile” deliveries, which is really more like “last-100-mile” delivery. QCD exclusively serves Starbucks in Southern California and the routes are mostly within 120 miles, which current technology can handle on a single charge.
'This change is going to benefit everybody'
Buenrostro was initially hesitant to take on the electric truck route — the trucks are longer, the torque is more powerful, and there are no familiar sounds, such as gears shifting or the turbo kicking in.
My first time driving it, it took me about a minute to realize it was on. The next day I was more comfortable.
He was also skeptical of the trucks’ ability to haul the same loads.
“I was like, is it gonna be able to pull, you know? Is it gonna be able to go up a hill? And yeah, it will,” he said.
Now he wouldn’t want to go back.
“Change sometimes is good or it's bad,” Buenrostro said. “And honestly, like, I feel like this change is gonna benefit everybody.”
Buenrostro said he feels better driving electric because he’s helping air quality in the local community, which he’s noticed is getting worse.
“From the top of the hill, it's a layer ... it's just a black cloud of smoke and it's just hovering over everybody,” Buenrostro said. “And that's when you realize, hey man, we don't do something now … our kids' kids are gonna feel it.”
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Many retired trucks and other heavy-duty equipment are resold to other states and countries — which raises concerns of simply exporting the problem. Others are broken down for parts or recycled. QCD sells old equipment through a subsidiary company.
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As the electric car and truck market grows, a market for recycling batteries is growing as well.
Thinking creatively about charging infrastructure
QCD already has six electric trucks and another 39 on the way from Volvo. With 74 trucks in their Southland fleet, they expect to meet the deadline with time to spare, said Shane Blanchette, a vice president with the company.
“We think this is actually a competitive advantage as we continue to transition,” Blanchette said.
Blanchette added that the company expects to save on fuel and maintenance costs because electric trucks don’t require expensive diesel or as much maintenance, such as oil changes.
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Right now, electric trucks cost about three times as much as a traditional diesel truck.
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“It's a lot of capital right now because the scale's just not there,” said Shane Blanchette, a vice president with QCD.
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QCD was able to buy them at a similar cost to diesel through grants from Southern California Edison and other partners. State, federal and regional grants add up to billions of dollars going to companies to help them transition.
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And some of that money also comes out of the electricity rates Southern Californians pay. Southern California Edison, for example, offers rebates up to $150,000 for electric drayage trucks. That money comes from the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard program, as well as a rate increase of about a dollar on resident’s electricity bills, according to the utility.
The company installed charging stations at their Fontana location with the help of a power upgrade from Southern California Edison. That’s the simplest route. But Blanchette said there’s business in getting more creative with charging infrastructure.
For example, they’re installing a solar-powered microgrid at their La Puente location, which Blanchette said will help the company save on their electricity bills, as well as ease stress on the power grid we all rely on.
He said another option for companies that may not have the capital to install their own infrastructure is partnering with businesses that are focused on building heavy-duty truck charging stations. For example, Long Beach-based startup WattEV is working on building charging stations across the state to connect shipping ports with freight distribution centers and warehouse locations.
They just opened what will be the nation’s largest truck charging station at the Port of Long Beach. The company also buys electric trucks to lease to independent drivers and companies on par with the cost of a diesel truck, calling themselves a modern-day "Pony Express."
“There are different paths to really achieving your goal of electrifying your fleet,” Blanchette said.
But he said some of the biggest challenges are timing — supply chain challenges have made delivery times of trucks uncertain.
“What you don't want to have is infrastructure and no trucks, or vice versa,” Blanchette said.
There’s also negotiating with landlords because many companies don’t own the spaces where they store and charge trucks. And there’s navigating government grants to help with up-front costs and coordination needed with the utility companies.
“It's a lot of due diligence, a lot of time,” Blanchette said. “I mean, we've honestly had weekly meetings for each project pushing 14 months now. You’ve gotta have the right kind of partners and perseverance and just push through.”
