ConGlobal and BNSF Railway Company partnered on a project to help electrify operations at BNSF’s San Bernardino Intermodal Facility by deploying 12 new electric yard hostlers and installing supporting charging infrastructure. The MSRC provided $1.69 million in Clean Transportation Funding to ConGlobal to purchase 12 BYD zero-emission yard tractors and $1.31 million to BNSF for charging equipment at the yard.
The MSRC awarded funding for this project under its Off-Road Inland Ports Program. This program targeted emissions from the goods movement industry at freight facilities located in the Inland Empire. Riverside and San Bernardino Counties are home to a vast network of warehouses, distribution centers, and logistics facilities where shipping containers are delivered, sorted, transferred, and re-loaded for destinations across the United States.
ConGlobal replaced 12 existing diesel hostlers in their fleet with 12 zero-emission electric vehicles. According to the
California Air Resources Board, one diesel-powered hostler emits about 340 kg of NOx and 12 kg of PM 2.5 annually, so these criteria pollutant emissions will be avoided with each new electric yard tractor. Additionally, on average, each diesel vehicle burned approximately 4,000 gallons of fuel per year at the San Bernardino facility, emitting an estimated 40,000 kg of CO2 annually. Thus, these 12 new electric yard tactors are also preventing nearly 500,000 kg CO2 from polluting the air each year.
BNSF installed six Heliox 180 charging cabinets, each with three dispensers. This infrastructure can support charging for 18 electric tractors simultaneously. The project was completed in February.
ConGlobal acknowledged the importance of the MSRC’s instrumental co-funding for this project. Without public funding support, ConGlobal concludes it would not have been able to afford to invest in the transition to zero-emission technologies.