GHG Emissions, Industrial, Sourcing Renewables  -  May 2, 2024

Toyota Logistics Services Adds Biogas in California

Toyota Logistics Services (TLS), a vehicle processing and distribution center in Long Beach, California, plans to use biogas at the facility.

Toyota Motor North America, Inc. signed an agreement with FuelCell Energy, which just opened its "Tri-gen" system at the Port of Long Beach, California.

Tri-gen uses biogas to produce renewable electricity, renewable hydrogen and usable water. The facility was built to support Toyota's largest North American vehicle processing facility that receives approximately 200,000 new Toyota and Lexus vehicles annually.

"The goal of our collaboration with FuelCell Energy was to find sustainable solutions for the TLS vehicle processing facility here at the Port of Long Beach as part of our goal to remove carbon dioxide emissions from our operations," said Group Vice President of Sustainability and Regulatory Affairs at Toyota Tom Stricker in a statement. "This groundbreaking facility shows that there are ways to reduce our emissions and burden on natural resources with scalable technology based on hydrogen."

TLS Long Beach is Toyota's first port vehicle processing facility powered by 100% on-site generated renewable electricity. 

Tri-gen produces 2.3-megawatts of renewable electricity, part of which will be utilized by TLS Long Beach to support its operations at the port. Excess electricity is delivered to the local utility, Southern California Edison, under the California Bioenergy Market Adjustment Tariff (BioMAT) program.

Tri-gen can also produce up to 1,200 kg/day of hydrogen for the fueling needs of Toyota's incoming light-duty fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) Mirai while also supplying hydrogen to the adjacent heavy-duty hydrogen refueling station to support TLS logistics and drayage operations at the port. 

In January, Toyota used the renewable hydrogen produced at Tri-gen to fill the first Toyota Mirai vehicles at TLS, and in April the first heavy-duty FCEV Kenworth T680 Class 8 truck was filled at the adjacent Shell HD filling station using Tri-gen-produced renewable hydrogen.

By supporting TLS operations at the Port of Long Beach, Tri-gen is expected to help reduce more than 9,000 tons of CO₂ emissions from the power grid annually. 

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