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Goods movement and port related activities are a significant source of emissions in many large urban areas. Electrification of diesel cargo handling equipment is one method of reducing community exposure to these emissions, that also provides the potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This study evaluated the performance of several pieces of zero emission cargo transfer equipment for a demonstration conducted at two terminal locations at the Port of Long Beach (POLB). This included the data logging of three battery-electric top handlers and one battery-electric yard tractor, as well as two baseline diesel top handlers and one diesel yard tractor. The battery-electric equipment typically operated about 5 hours per day, while using between 34 to 50% of the battery pack state of charge (SOC). In general, the battery-electric equipment was able to provide comparable hours of operation to the diesel equipment over a typical 8-hour shift.

With funding from the California Energy Commission, the California Hybrid, Efficient and Advanced Truck Research Center, contracted with the University of California, Riverside's College of Engineering to evaluate the performance of a Class 5 battery electric urban delivery vehicle over two standardized driving cycles and a steady state range test on a chassis dynamometer. The test vehicle, a Smith Electric Newton Step Van, was equipped with a proprietary data acquisition system which was set to record a wide variety of vehicle parameters at a 1 Hz sampling period. In addition, the chassis dynamometer was set to measure and record additional parameters. Lastly, a portable J1772 EVSE recorded both grid energy and power at 15-minute intervals. This project provides a controlled test evaluation of the Smith Electric Newton Step Van. It recognizes the vehicle's potential for a successful delivery vehicle and identifies several important findings and areas that will need further research.