Greenlane Infrastructure is making its next big move following the opening of its flagship Colton, California charging hub last April.
The California-based joint venture, established by Daimler Trucks North America, NextEra Energy Resources, and BlackRock, has confirmed plans to establish its second commercial vehicle battery-electric charging corridor that'll connect Southern California to Phoenix, Arizona via Interstate 10.
Greenlane also revealed this corridor expansion is being supported by a new strategic partnership with Windrose Technology, manufacturer of the battery-electric Class 8 R700 semi.
[Related: Windrose R700 completes 578-mile route validation]
Speaking to Clean Trucking, Greenlane CEO Patrick Macdonald-King clarified that the company "is agnostic to all vehicle OEMs. A great example is our work with Volvo. We have partnered with Volvo where Greenlane’s API is fully integrated within Volvo’s Open Charge eMSP, allowing customers to locate a charger, book a charging reservation, and start a charging session, all within Volvo’s app. We also have special billing and rates for Volvo customers."
This latest partnership calls for Windrose to use Greenline's Colton hub as its operations base to power its semis for pilot customers running routes along the I-15 and I-10 corridors. This includes Greenlane's first fleet customer, Nevoya, which developed the country's first zero-emissions electric trucking carrier and technology-driven logistics platform.
"Greenlane's I-10 charging network creates the infrastructure breakthrough that electric trucking needs—and Nevoya is positioned to capitalize on it," explained John Verdon, chief commercial officer at Nevoya.
Nevoya confirmed plans to run BEV semis along both corridors.
"Our second corridor was strategically selected to best support the carriers and shippers who keep our economy moving," added Macdonald-King. "Windrose's remarkable achievements during testing demonstrate that our high-performance charging network can handle the most demanding freight operations, giving us confidence that this I-10 corridor will serve as a critical backbone for zero-emission freight."
Greenlane and Nevoya previously confirmed plans to scale their partnership to include up to 100 Nevoya-provided electric trucks.
Macdonald-King further told us that "The Colton flagship has reinforced a few key lessons for us so far.
"First, the need for charging infrastructure that works seamlessly across all vehicle OEMs is real and immediate. Interoperability testing is key. Our OEM agnostic approach allows us to charge electric trucks from various OEMs including Daimler, Windrose, BYD, Volvo, International, Tern, and more.
"Operationally, we’ve learned that reliability and speed are equally important as downtime is not an option when fleets are moving freight on tight schedules. Our customers also really like the full pull-through lanes so they don't have to detach tractor trailers when charging. On the maintenance side, designing for durability and ease of service is already paying dividends, especially at high-utilization sites.
"Finally, collaboration is the multiplier: the success in Colton so far comes from close coordination with utilities, OEMs, and fleet operators, as well as investment in driver amenities and smart routing tools. These lessons are directly shaping how we roll out the rest of our national network."
