Daimler Truck North America (DTNA), NextEra Energy Resources, and BlackRock Alternatives, through a fund managed by its renewable power equity investment platform BlackRock Climate Infrastructure, unveiled Greenlane, the name of their new joint venture to develop and operate a nationwide U.S. EV charging network for commercial vehicles.

The launch of the new charging infrastructure venture comes as companies increasingly shift the focus of their decarbonization efforts to their value chains, with transport comprising a significant source of value chain emissions, and as shippers are expected to face growing pressure to meet regulatory pressure to reduce their emissions footprints, including a recent proposal by the Biden administration to introduce strict emissions reductions from trucks over the next several years.

The companies had announced plans to develop the JV in early 2022, and have committed more than $650 million in funding to the venture, aimed at addressing the need for a publicly available nationwide charging infrastructure for commercial vehicles, in order to enable the widespread deployment of electric trucks.

DTNA President and CEO John O’Leary said:

“Greenlane is designed to begin to tackle one of the greatest hurdles to the trucking industry’s decarbonization – infrastructure. The nation’s fleets can only transform with the critical catalyst of publicly accessible charging designed to meet the needs for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.

Greenlane will design, develop, install and operate a network of zero-emission public charging and hydrogen sites for medium- and heavy-duty battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, built on critical freight routes along the east and west coasts and in Texas.

The company will initially focus on battery-electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, later adding hydrogen fueling stations for fuel cell trucks. The companies said that the JV also plans to expand access in the future to light-duty vehicles.

The companies also announced that the first Greenlane site will be in Southern California, and that it is working on the acquisition of additional sites on several freight routes, and on the development of a custom, commercial vehicle reservation platform for fleet managers, dispatchers and drivers.

David Giordano, Global Head of Climate Infrastructure at BlackRock Alternatives, said:

“Reliable charging infrastructure is a critical component of the electrification of the commercial trucking industry. Greenlane provides an exciting opportunity to partner with key players in the energy transition and bring institutional capital to the growing sector.”

Rebecca Kujawa, President and CEO of NextEra Energy Resources, added:

“NextEra Energy Resources is excited about the expected impact of our partnership with DTNA and BlackRock, and the critical role that Greenlane will play in the decarbonization of the commercial transportation sector and the broader U.S. economy. As a publicly available charging network developed to serve medium and heavy-duty commercial fleets, Greenlane serves a critical infrastructure need for its customers utilizing newly developed charging and energy management software solutions, while being powered by renewable energy.