California's ports and freight corridors are the backbone of the state's economy and the nation's supply chain. Diesel engines are ubiquitous, as today’s freight system cannot operate without them, and the trucks never stop. Unfortunately, diesel exhaust is toxic, and the neighborhoods closest to California's ports and freight corridors are under constant assault.
Diesel trucks make up just 6% of vehicles in California, but are responsible for approximately 31% of nitrogen oxide emissions and 55% of particulate matter pollution. Near the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, downtown Los Angeles, and parts of the Inland Empire, diesel-related cancer risk reaches 350 to 500 cases per million people.
A 2019 study found that Latino, Black, Asian, and low-income communities are exposed to substantially more air pollution from cars, trucks, and buses than other demographic groups in California. Households earning around $20,000 annually experience vehicle pollution levels approximately 20 percent higher than the state average.
“There are a lot of people in California that are exposed to this [diesel PM2.5] pollution, but the inequities we found by race and by income for this particular pollutant and from this particular source, that’s just one part of the potential inequities in our transportation system and overall,” said study author David Reichmuth, referring to diesel particulate matter air pollution. “We should be doing things that reduce these inequities. We have a moral obligation to do that.”
In contrast, hydrogen fuel cell trucks emit only water vapor. No NOx. No particulate matter. No diesel carcinogens.
Hydrogen Fuel Cleaning Up Freight Corridors
For example, the ZANZEFF "Shore to Store" project, led by the Port of Los Angeles with Toyota, Kenworth, and Shell, deployed 10 Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell trucks at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The initiative was projected to reduce emissions by over 500 tons of greenhouse gases and 0.72 weighted tons of NOx, ROG, and PM10, representing a 100% reduction relative to their diesel counterparts.
Fleet operators at Toyota Logistics Services, UPS, Total Transportation Services, and Southern Counties Express ran these trucks across real drayage routes through the Los Angeles Basin and the Inland Empire. The project proved that fuel cell electric trucks can match diesel performance.
“I had asthma as a kid,” said Danny Gamboa, Long Beach native and Toyota fuel-cell truck driver who trains drivers at the port. “My three kids all have asthma. My family had no history of asthma until we moved to Long Beach. My work at Toyota isn't about selling cars. It's about cleaning up the air and the region. When we're done here, the frontline community will no longer have to deal with this burden.”
The lifecycle science supports what that story demonstrates. An ICCT study (press release) found that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles running on renewable hydrogen have up to 89% lower lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions than diesel trucks, matching those of battery EVs when the hydrogen supply is clean. The decisive variable is the source of hydrogen, and aligning lifecycle accounting with today's production mix reflects where this technology is headed.
The scale of the task is concrete: more than 23,000 trucks are registered in the drayage truck registry at the San Pedro Bay ports, and the vast majority still run on diesel. No single technology gets all of them off diesel by 2035.
Reaching ZEV goals will require both fuel cell electric trucks and battery electric trucks working in parallel, each playing to its strengths. Hydrogen fuel cell trucks are a stronger fit where range, payload, and turnaround time are constraints. A hydrogen fuel cell truck can also be refueled in roughly 15 minutes, comparable to diesel, while battery electric trucks can require 90 minutes or more to charge for 200 miles of range.
The Port of Long Beach recently committed up to $10 million in hydrogen fuel grants to help drayage fleet operators cover the incremental cost of fueling hydrogen trucks at the San Pedro Bay complex. If fully utilized, the program will generate at least 3.7 million zero-emissions miles.
“Cleaner freight corridors don't happen by themselves,” said Bill Elrick, Executive Director of H2FCP. “They require fueling stations along the routes trucks actually run, hydrogen supply chains built out to match growing demand, and fleet operators with the tools and support to make the switch.”
