Jagdeep Singh Insurance Agency

Nikola Slated to Build Hydrogen Stations in Southern California

Hot on the heels of Tesla’s construction of an electric charging station in Central California to help meet California’s transition to zero-emission trucks, Nikola Motors recently announced it will build three hydrogen stations in Southern California to meet the growing need for long-term hydrogen distribution. Currently, California has only a handful of hydrogen stations. Refueling infrastructure is a priority for Phoenix-based Nikola which appears to have moved past some of the company’s previous problems which were generated by founder Trevor Milton, who left the company in 2020. The company also recently announced a partnership with the Port of Baltimore and furniture manufacturer IKEA to use the Nikola Tre battery-electric truck to move goods from the port to a warehouse in Maryland. The new stations will be in the cities of Colton, Ontario and at the Port of Long Beach. The station in Ontario is a joint venture with TravelCenters America. Additional stations are in the works and could be announced before the end of the year.

"This marks an important step in Nikola's ability to deliver innovative solutions and the infrastructure needed to decarbonize the transportation industry," said Pablo Koziner, President, Nikola Energy. "Our hydrogen refueling stations, along with a comprehensive energy supply, will provide customers the support needed to transition their fleets to zero-emissions."

At the end of last year, Nikola delivered the first of its trucks to Los Angeles-based Total Transportation Services who ordered 100 trucks, including 30 battery-electric vehicles (BEV) and 70 hydrogen fuel cell (FCEV) trucks. The Nikola Two FCEV has a range of up to 900 miles, takes only about 20 minutes to refuel and has 645 continuous horsepower.

New Data Reveals More Women Have Joined the Trucking Industry

More women occupy jobs as drivers, warehouse workers and executives in the trucking industry than ever before, according to new data released by the Women in Trucking Association (WIT). Gathered during the first quarter of this year, data shows that 33.8% of C-Suite executives are women and 39.6% are industry leaders. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of women in transportation and warehousing jobs has increased every month this year and is up over 12% over the last year. "We’ve seen an increase due to the pandemic effects. Many women are coming from the service industry— hospitality, restaurants, convention centers—because those jobs weren’t stable and they are concerned about the future due to the economy and talks of a recession,” said Ellen Voie, WIT president and CEO.

“The increase reflects the loss of female workers in other 'traditional' careers, which were hit harder by the pandemic. We are thrilled to be able to have good paying jobs available and feel that our efforts to attract more women into the trucking industry are being realized," concluded Voie.

WIT has been measuring data on women in the trucking industry since 2016. This year, information was gathered from 180 participating companies to compile the WIT Index, a measure of how many women are in the industry in various roles. This year, WIT expanded its data gathering to account for women in additional functional roles, including operations, technicians, human resources, talent management and marketing. The WIT Index shows that 31% of the board of directors of trucking companies are women. 23% are directors on the largest publicly traded asset-based carriers. Numbers have also increased for women in warehousing and other transportation related jobs. In addition, more women than ever before are now driving. Voie said, again noting the effects of the pandemic, "an astonishing number of women are becoming drivers after leaving medical careers because they are burned out and just want to get away from the stress."