Preface. In my first book “When Trucks Stop Running” I made the case that our civilization, across all sectors, depended on diesel heavy-duty trucks, and explored the ways they might run on Something Else, since if that problem were not solved our fossil-fueled civilization would crash within a week. The ports of Los Angeles and San Pedro did the same thing, and sought submissions for net-zero ways to move cargo between ships and inland redistribution centers that could go at least 200 miles a day before refueling. Fifty-four projects were proposed, for both trucks and cargo handling equipment, and the best were funded. The solutions included battery electric vehicles (BET) with lead and lithium ion batteries, hydrogen fuel cell, hybrid electric using battery power for propulsion and an on-board hydrogen fuel cell system to recharge the vehicle’s batteries, biodiesel, overhead catenary lines, rail, liquid natural gas (LNG), a fixed-guideway system using advanced-technology propulsion (e.g maglev, linear induction). None have become commercial, though there are electric and hydrogen truck demonstration projects today.
By commercial, I mean not heavily subsidized by vehicle vouchers, infrastructure grants, LCFS credits, local utility rebates, VW‑mitigation and Carl Moyer–type grants. In California, there is the HVIP program providing up t$150,000 per Class 8 battery‑electric truck, with additional “Port Plus‑Up” funds for drayage that can stack on top of HVIP Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits. In China there exemptions from purchase tax and highway tolls, preferential parking policies, and up to a 25% subsidy toward buying a new BEV after scrapping a diesel truck. But in the U.S. BEV cost $425,000 on average, over twice the cost of a diesel truck and the charging infrastructure is still in its infancy (Oct 20, 2025 Zero-Emission Drayage Trucks Technically Viable, Still Face Economic and Infrastructure Gaps).
And keep in mind, after the drayage trucks reach the inland transloading centers about 30 to 100 miles inland, diesel trucks will carry the cargo the rest of the way to distribution centers, where mostly diesel trucks will take cargo to retail stores.
The port documents describing the projects are gone, so what you see are the notes I had made and what I could still find on the internet. Nor is material available to find out how the experiments worked. Densberger (2022) in Towards accelerating the adoption of zero emissions cargo handling technologies in California ports: Lessons learned from the case of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach said that: “…Perhaps the most significant limitation of the analysis performed by this study was the proprietary nature of terminal equipment demonstrations. There is limited information available that assesses the progress of zero emissions cargo handling equipment demonstrations outside of the public updates provided by the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and no terminals queried by the research team were willing to offer an indepth discussion about the obstacles uncovered by demonstrating new zero emissions equipment. Future research into the difficulties experienced during specific technology demonstrations, perhaps through an anonymous industry survey, would be beneficial to provide more concrete information about the steps that state agencies and technology developers/manufacturers should take to accelerate the adoption of zero emissions cargo handling equipment. Such information sharing could also help state regulators create a feasible time-line for zero emissions cargo handling equipment adoption and outline the supporting infrastructure needed to ensure an effective transition to zero emissions ports.
The second article is from the National Academy of Sciences: “Evaluating alternatives for Landside Transport of Ocean Containers”. This paper didn’t have a solution to get containers from ports to inland distribution centers, and discussed the pros and cons of possible solutions. Electrified trucks (battery or catenary) were preferred, but not technologically ready, and fixed-guideway systems were the worst solution.
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Source: It’s Time to Stop Using Inmates for Free Labor
This is the third part of a book review of: Graff, G.M. 2018. 
This is a book review of Graff’s 2018 “ Raven Rock. The Story of the U.S. Governments Secret Plan to Save Itself–While the Rest of Us Die”.
Preface. Below is the declaration of the Nobel Laureate Assembly for the Prevention of Nuclear War from a three-day gathering in Chicago of 20 Nobel laureates and 60 leading nuclear experts, aimed at creating recommendations for policymakers and leaders to reduce the threat of nuclear war. It took place July 14-16, 2025, and was the first Nobel Assembly focused on nuclear threats.
