EV-Ready Jobsite trailers: Collective action and a unified 'ask'

I think this is a great opportunity to scale and formalize this more in maybe a taskforce for the overall sustainability of jobsite trailers. Align our requests not only for EV readiness but improved efficiency in their envelope materials, recycled materials, water consumption, etc. Before we reach out to them as a unified front, I suggest we compile and clean the list of items we want to see incorporated and discuss through a lens of feasibility and solutions that make economic sense to them as well. 

I like both of these thoughts. However, I feel the more we ask for and the more complicated the request, the less likely it is to be implemented / it will take longer to implement. There are Pros and Cons to asking just for EV Ready vs. giving our full list of requests to make trailers not suck. I banged my head against a wall for about a year with one of our local trailer manufacturers who ostensibly claimed they wanted to pilot a net zero trailer. My response to them was that this has already been achieved from a technical perspective, and that really what we needed to do - if we were going to invest the time - was to prove this could be financially viable at scale. Things fizzled out when they wanted to have us commit financially to contracting with them before we could even get numbers to prove the concept estimate. But, I learned a little about their business model, which is probably obvious to all of us. These are basically disposable depreciating assets. The type of thing we were discussing would be completely different than their typical way of doing things. (We were basically proposing a passive house trailer). And, even though the SCL represents a large market contingent, the builders who only want the cheapest, same old crap, probably outnumber us 10:1. A typical monthly rate they quoted us was around $600, and the net zero trailer would have been about $1,400. I have more thoughts I'm happy to share but don't want to write a long email. I'm also happy to contribute to this letter in whatever form it ends up taking and think it's a very good idea to leverage our collective buying power Steven Burke. LEED & WELL Faculty Director Of Sustainability m: 774.462.2044 consigli.com

I think developing an industry letter and reaching out the trailer manufacturers is a great idea and I am in support. From the comments above, it sounds like a roadmap might be helpful, starting with EV charging and moving eventually to higher efficiency net zero trailers with integrated solar and storage. It will be important for us to acknowledge that even when such trailers become readilly available, it will be a bit of a culture shift for GCs to apply the right life cycle cost/benefit models to encourage adoption. Steven's math above is also in line with what we have seen when comparing our base rental trailers (around $500/month) to integrated solar powered trailers with battery backup (around $1,600 per month). For sites with access to grid power, its a hard sell but it makes sense for remote sites. If we are able to convince trailer manufacturers to make units that are more durable, efficient, and longer lasting, and with reusable components at end of life, perhaps their rental costs can from reflect a different life cycle analysis so the monthly rate premium is not as significant. Another point to keep in mind is that as GCs we will all soon be expected to provide charging stations, one way or another so if it's not on the trailer, it will be some kind of temporary or stand alone system that we will have to rent anyway.

Wanted to check in on this topic and see if anyone has started a letter or anything? I would think that a video call with the leader of Willscot would be a great place to start.

Jumping into this topic as a new SCL member...  I am very interested in joining any discussion related to developing language and/or a roadmap for manufacturers.   Elsa Mullin, CPHC, LEED GA Sustainability Manager Skanska USA Building