North America’s Largest Heavy-Duty EV Charging Hub Powered by Microgrid

A value chain focused on decarbonization is imperative, as is keeping operations running smoothly. Performance Team— A Maersk Company, tells the story of the wins and challenges as they looked to electrify their heavy-duty fleet.

Overview

Performance Team is a Maersk company that operates over 140 electric vehicles across the United States. As a global leader in logistics services, Maersk aims to reach net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2040 across the entire business with new technologies, new vessels and lower GHG emission fuels. Electrification of their heavy-duty truck fleet is a key part of the goal. Performance Team is helping lead Maersk in the transition and partnered with Prologis Mobility to meet California’s 2035 diesel engine phase-out targets for drayage trucks and 2045 mandates for all other heavy-duty vehicles.

map of the port of long beach with the Denker Hub highlighted

"It is our ambition to drive the industry shift toward decarbonized supply chains," said Charles van der Steene, regional president for Maersk North America . "Expanding the charging infrastructure for commercial electric vehicles is a key part of that. This facility strengthens our ability to offer customers a decarbonized alternative to conventional trucking and brings us closer to our goal of reaching net zero by 2040."

Prologis Mobility and Performance Team built North America’s largest heavy-duty truck charging hub powered by a self-sufficient microgrid, providing a prototype for hubs of the future. Completed in April 2024, the Denker Hub microgrid charging facility is on Denker Avenue in Torrance, California. Situated along major freeways near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the hub will serve as a strategic charging point.

At a glance: Denker Hub’s EV fleet charging capabilities

96 charging stalls

18 megawatt-hours (MWh) energy storage

9 megawatts (MW) charging capacity

1.3 tons of hydrogen-to-EV-ready blended capacity per day

A Seemingly Insurmountable Challenge

Government regulations and compliance requirements can present a significant challenge for any company looking to meet decarbonization and GHG emissions reduction goals. In this case, California mandates require transition of all drayage trucks operating through a state seaport to be registered with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and all trucks in CARB’s registry must be zero emissions by 2035.¹ Combined with independent decarbonization objectives of the Maersk organization, this meant Performance Team needed to facilitate a quick transition of its heavy-duty fleet to EVs.

Electrifying a large truck fleet in a short time frame can be difficult, but local conditions made the challenge seem insurmountable. California’s interconnection time lines are long—experts estimate a three- to five-year wait for any large load request—so Performance Team needed to facilitate quick electrification without initial reliance on the grid.

An Unprecedented Solution

Together, Prologis Mobility and Performance Team responded to the challenge by creating the largest EV charging project of its kind in the U.S., delivered at an extraordinary pace. The Denker Hub is a self-sufficient microgrid with dual hydrogen and natural gas capabilities, allowing Performance Team to move forward with the electrification of its fleet within months, not years.

Completed in only five months, compared to a typical time line of one to two years, the scale and speed of the project changed the way the industry thinks about hubs and provides a prototype for hubs of the future. To expedite the process, we developed a strong partnership with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the City of Los Angeles and SoCalGas. Without their collaboration and support, a project of this scale and speed would not have been possible.

The Denker Hub consists of six independent microgrids, each with its own battery, generators and charging stalls. Collectively, the six microgrids deliver considerable benefits to Performance Team and the local community.

Customer benefits

18 MWh of energy storage (equivalent to three hours of autonomy)
9 MW of charging capacity (for powering up to 96 high-powered EV trucks simultaneously)
3 MW of fuel flexible generation capacity (natural gas, renewable natural gas, hydrogen)
1.3 tons of hydrogen-to-EV-ready blended capacity per day
27,000 miles of heavy-duty truck charging per day
300-plus medium- and heavy-duty EV trucks serving capacity each day

The microgrid capabilities of the site helped expedite the project and provide a high level of resiliency. If the local utility grid goes down around the hub, the 18 MWh battery storage has the capacity to keep the site charging normally for up to three hours. With hydrogen and renewable natural gas-flexible generators providing a continuous 3 MW of energy, the site can run indefinitely and uninterrupted with the added benefits of lower emissions.

Community impact

The Denker Hub microgrid stands as a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation to address the challenges of decarbonizing the transportation infrastructure. With the ability to charge over 300 electric medium- and heavy-duty trucks daily,² the site has the capacity to abate 70 tons of carbon dioxide tailpipe emissions each day.³ Furthermore, when compared to a diesel fleet of the same size, the site has the capacity to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 96.7%.⁴ So not only does Denker Hub reduce GHG emissions in the supply chain, it also helps lower GHG emissions in the local community.

What Obstacles Stand in Your Way?

Through strategic partnerships, Prologis Mobility is helping pave the way for an electric future in logistics. In addition to developing public and private EV charging depots and hubs for medium- and heavy-duty fleets, Prologis Mobility provides a charging-as-a-service offering with no upfront costs for Prologis customers. The comprehensive solutions include design and construction, energy procurement, hardware and operations monitoring, maintenance and innovative software solutions.

Contact Prologis Mobility today to see how a partnership will accelerate your decarbonization goals without compromising operational efficiency.

Endnotes

"Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation—Drayage Truck Requirements.”. ww2.Arb.Ca.Gov. California Air Resources Board, September 22, 2023. https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/fact-sheets/advanced-clean-fleets-regulation-drayage-truck-requirements
Assumes 140 miles per truck day at 1.8 kWh per mile using full onsite battery capacity on the day.
Assumes zero-carbon intensity mix fuel source, an energy economy ratio of 3, and a diesel benchmark of 100.45g CO2/megajoules with 140 miles per truck day at 1.8 kWh per mile.
"Comparison of Emissions for Alternative Technologies at Denker." TRC Memorandum, June 28, 2024. https://prologis.getbynder.com/m/40bbecb707fd4b53/original/Memo-Denker-Facility-Emissions-Comparison.pdf

North America’s Largest Heavy-Duty EV Charging Hub Powered by Microgrid

Overview