National City Gives Thumbs Up to Electric Trucking

Media
2 days ago
3 min read

Electric vehicle chargers for class 8 electric trucks at Truck Net LLC in Otay Mesa | April 27, 2023 | Photo by Ariana Drehsler

City Council support for a Port of San Diego electric truck charging station represents a remarkable turnaround.

For National City leaders, some trucks appear to be better than others.

A divided City Council on Tuesday voted to send a letter of support to the Port of San Diego endorsing a Port proposal to build a 4.8-acre electric truck charging station on Tidelands Avenue with capacity to recharge up to 70 big-rig trucks.

The charging station, to be built by a Nashville, Tennessee-based electric vehicle infrastructure company called Skycharger, is part of a wider Port effort to convert maritime operations from diesel to electric power.

The letter councilmembers voted 2-1 to send to the Port on Tuesday voices city support for the project and urges Port officials to remain responsive to community input.

Councilmembers Marcus Bush and Jose Rodriguez were not present for the vote. Bush, who is traveling in connection with his role as a Metropolitan Transit System director, appeared for part of the meeting via video but signed off before the port discussion.

The letter supporting the charging project is short, about half a page. But it represents a remarkable turnaround.

When Port officials first selected Skycharger to build the charging station in 2024, National City councilmembers, including Mayor Ron Morrison, voiced deep concerns that the station would expose residents to increased truck traffic and possible lithium battery fire pollution resulting from truck accidents.

Morrison and other councilmembers urged the Port to conduct a full environmental review of the project. Residents at a public forum voiced their own fears about fires and new technology replacing traditional port jobs.

The Port moved forward with the project anyway. In response to community concerns, officials held multiple meetings with community groups and members of the public.

In February, the Port released an Environmental Impact Report that found the charging station would cause “no significant environmental impacts.”

Earlier this month, Port officials delivered a lengthy presentation to the City Council highlighting the project’s pollution-fighting benefits and reiterating the environmental report’s findings.

The outreach seems to have worked. On Tuesday, following a brief discussion, councilmembers voted to send the endorsement letter.

Morrison remained a lone holdout.

In brief comments before the vote, he reiterated concerns about the risk of battery fires and cited increased city costs to pay for insurance related to fire risk.

“Saying that we’re wholeheartedly supporting this without addressing the concerns I think is rather disingenuous,” he said.

This being National City, the Council took the opportunity to argue.

Councilmember Ditas Yamane cut Morrison off in the middle of his remarks.

“Mr. Mayor, we heard that already,” she said. The two raised their voices and interrupted one another.

“You are out of order,” Morrison said.

“No, I’m not out of order,” Yamane responded.

The vote to support the charging station stands in marked contrast to the Council’s vote last year to reject a proposed biofuels transfer project that also would have brought increased truck traffic to the city.

But that proposal involved diesel, not electric, trucks. And it would have elevated the city’s role in San Diego County’s petroleum infrastructure.

Residents roundly opposed the biofuels project. They packed Council meetings and spoke long into the night about their fears of seeing their communities turned into dumping grounds.

In contrast, residents wholeheartedly supported the electric charging station.

“I agree with this project,” said resident and environmental activist Alicia Sanchez at a June 16 Council meeting. “That’s what we need here in National City because it would help reduce pollution.”