The Northwest Seaport Alliance announced an incentive program for zero-emission truck and charging deployment in the Seattle-Tacoma gateway.

Made possible by a $6.2 million grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation, the incentives will collectively bring 19 zero-emission trucks and charging infrastructure to the Puget Sound region. 

After a competitive bid process, the NWSA identified Zeem Solutions (Zeem) as the awarded subrecipient. 

Zeem offers charging, parking, fleet management services, and electric vehicle leases to help fleets transition to zero-emissions vehicles. This will be their first deployment in Washington state.

This grant serves as a catalyst for private investment from project participants, according to a news release, with Zeem and its fleet partners contributing a substantial portion of the total project costs. 

The Electric-Vehicle Charging Site

The Zeem project also includes building out a charging site that will enable 250 vehicles to charge per day, with parking capacity for 70 vehicles overnight. 

The charging site will be located near the new I-5 exit ramp just south of SeaTac Airport, along SR-99 (International Blvd / Pacific Hwy), convenient for nearby warehouse and distribution centers with a large volume of truck deliveries. 

In addition to serving trucks, the Zeem site will serve other fleets operating light-, medium- and heavy-duty electric commercial vehicles.

The charging site will break ground this fall, with the ZEVs expected on the road by 2026. 

Funding for the Project

This program was made possible by Climate Commitment Act funding, Washington’s cap-and-invest program supporting climate, jobs and public health.

“This transition is a necessary but expensive one, and we need all the partners at the table that we can get,” said NWSA Co-Chair and Port of Tacoma Commission President John McCarthy. 

“Funding from the Washington State Legislature and their recognition of the importance of decarbonizing ports was key to making this happen, and continued investment and partnership will be crucial to future iterations of this program.

“The absolute scale of the transition for trucks and ports to a zero-emission future is a journey no one entity can do on their own.”

Washington’s ZEV Drayage Roadmap

This launch of the incentive program and inaugural award follows closely on the heels of the release of the Decarbonizing Drayage Roadmap announced in April.

The Roadmap outlines almost 70 recommendations for getting the full Puget Sound region drayage fleet into ZEVs by 2050 or sooner.

This incentive program was designed in tangent with the Roadmap, according to a news release, and used the lessons learned and feedback received from the driver community through that process. 

These incentives were also designed to alleviate cost burden and risk to drivers, and to ensure the co-development of the necessary charging infrastructure. 

According to the news release, truck emissions represent about 6% of all seaport-related diesel pollution and about 30% of all seaport-related climate pollution in the region.

About The Northwest Seaport Alliance 

The Northwest Seaport Alliance is a marine cargo operating partnership of the ports of Seattle and Tacoma.

Combined, the North and South harbors are a major North American gateway for containerized trade and the handling of non-containerized commodities (bulk, breakbulk, project/heavy-lift cargoes, and automobiles).