Sustainable Fleet Technology Webinar Series: Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Electrification-SFT: Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Electrification

SFT: Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Electrification

Pdf Summary

The Sustainable Fleet Technology Webinar Series on November 13, 2025, focused on medium and heavy-duty vehicle electrification, discussing trends, challenges, and best practices in deploying zero-emission trucks and buses (ZETs and ZEBs). CALSTART presented market updates, highlighting over 59,000 ZET deployments in the U.S. from 2017 to mid-2025, with cargo vans leading but seeing a recent decline. California, Texas, and Florida are top states for ZETs by volume, while California, Washington, and Wisconsin lead when normalized by truck stock. Key applications ready for electrification include first- and last-mile delivery, return-to-base, and drayage. Challenges include high upfront costs, infrastructure expenses and delays, policy requirements, and the need for education on benefits and readiness.<br /><br />Transit bus electrification is growing steadily across many states, including in traditionally less supportive regions like Florida and Texas. However, funding constraints, manufacturing limits, and competing priorities persist, emphasizing the need for robust federal and state support.<br /><br />Highland Electric Fleets presented best practices, including why electrify fleets—highlighting sustainability goals, cost savings, modernization, and quieter operations—and common hurdles such as infrastructure planning, vehicle selection, staff training, risk management, and interoperability. Their holistic approach includes project planning, procurement, charging management, training, and financing, utilizing public-private partnerships and leveraging grants and tax credits like EPA Clean School Bus and IRS 30C incentives.<br /><br />IndyGo shared their transit electrification journey, describing fleet composition changes from diesel to battery electric buses (BEBs), deployment of on-route fast charging infrastructure, solar array integration, and operational and maintenance challenges like range variability, technician training, and cold-weather operations. They stressed involving subject matter experts in charging infrastructure design, piloting vehicles, and robust staff training programs including "train the trainer" and apprenticeships.<br /><br />Overall, the webinar underscored the importance of planning, simplifying vendor relationships, leveraging financing and incentives, and fostering collaboration to accelerate medium and heavy-duty vehicle electrification for sustainable, modern fleets.

Keywords

Sustainable Fleet Technology

Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Electrification

Zero-Emission Trucks

Zero-Emission Buses

CALSTART Market Update

Electrification Challenges

Transit Bus Electrification

Highland Electric Fleets Best Practices

IndyGo Transit Electrification

Federal and State Support