Electrification of the Freight System in Minnesota: Barriers, Opportunities, and a Multicriteria Planning Tool

About the Webinar

Transportation has the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions in the US, and trucks make up a significant proportion of that. Most states and local governments have plans to significantly reduce air pollution caused by transportation. The widespread use of electric vehicles is a primary means to achieve that goal. While personal electric vehicles have found their way to the automobile market and charging infrastructures are becoming more available in urban areas, electric trucks would have a bumpy road to being adopted en masse. This is due to the lack of widespread charging infrastructure and incentivizing policies, as well as technical and operational challenges confronting the trucking industries. 

The first part of this presentation synthesized the barriers and opportunities in adopting electric trucks in Minnesota. The information was collected from a survey of literature and interviews with stakeholders in freight transportation. In the second part of the presentation, a multicriterion decision analysis for e-truck charging infrastructure planning was presented. An analytic hierarchy process survey was conducted to calibrate the importance of each criterion in decision-making. Presenters also shared candidate corridors for charging station deployment that have been identified and visualized through geospatial analysis.

The webinar was held in conjunction with a CTS Environment and Energy in Transportation Research Council meeting.

Webinar Materials

• Watch the recording
• Khani's presentation slides (PDF)

Speakers

Alireza Khani is an associate professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geo- Engineering at the University of Minnesota. His research is on transit systems and their integration with shared mobility and new vehicles technologies. Khani's research, built upon rigorous models and data, addresses questions pertinent to planning and operation of transportation services toward the optimal use of resources and providing best quality of service. Examples of his recent projects or publications are: integration of shared autonomous vehicles with transit for first-and-last-mile access; application of transit ITS data for service quality and rides’ behavior analysis; optimization of an incremental plan for transit system electrification; and optimization of charging infrastructure for electric trucks. Khani received his PhD in civil engineering from the University of Arizona. Prior to joining the University of Minnesota civil engineering faculty, he was a research associate at the University of Texas at Austin.

Siri Simons is the sustainability program supervisor in MnDOT’s Division of Sustainability and Public Health. She leads and coordinates statewide transportation sustainability efforts, including the Clean Transportation Pilot Program, statewide EV planning, and the Governor’s Climate Change Subcabinet - Transportation Action Team. Prior to joining MnDOT, Simons coordinated residential energy efficiency policies for the City of Minneapolis and advanced sustainability through roles in higher education and community organizing. She has an MS in urban and regional planning from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and undergraduate degree in environmental sciences, policy and management from the University of Minnesota.