EV Semi-Fleet, a company looking to use electric semitrucks to move freight, is bringing its operation to Jacksonville, part of a plan to operate in ports throughout the Southeast.
The start-up company was founded by serial entrepreneur and CEO Jake Guerra in Orlando two years ago.
Since its founding, EV Semi-Fleet has bought the first Nikola EV semi-truck in Florida, raised nearly $2 million and reserved 50 Tesla semitrucks. The company is raising money through investors and use of WeFinder, an online platform where the company has attracted 400 investors.
The company is targeting cargo moving through the Port of Jacksonville, Guerra said, because of Jaxport's dedication to net-zero goals.
“There's big players in Jacksonville that could really adapt to this if they wanted to make that move here shortly,” Guerra said. “In the short term, there's going to be some struggles to get this all up and going. But we really do feel within a year there will be some more great operations going on with the electric semitrucks there in Jacksonville.”
Alberto Cabrera, Jaxport director of cargo development, said the port is supportive and will do what it can to encourage success of the company.
"A lot of our tenants are working on goals to be greener and cleaner, almost every one of our companies." said Alberto Cabrera, Jaxport director of cargo development.
Some shipping companies at the port have already made the switch to LNG, a cleaner burning fuel, making Jacksonville a leader in green and clean fuel for ships.
"There's no real roadmap to how to get to electrification. This is all kind of new," Cabrera said. "We're not reinventing the wheel. We're just reinventing the sprockets on the wheel."
For EV Semi-Fleet, that means building up a fleet of trucks as well as building a charging station. Guerra said EV Semi-Fleet Corp. is working with "large charging companies" on a location, ideally near the port, where trucks could charge without having to disconnect their trailer.
Even though the EV movement is growing, most charging stations are for conventional passenger vehicles rather than semis. Those stations would be slow to charge the larger batteries in trucks and don't have the roughly 70-foot area needed to accommodate trailers.
