Bali Express Adds 40 CNG and EV Trucks for Long Beach-Mexico Route

Bali Express Services will add 20 compressed natural gas trucks and 20 battery-electric trucks this year to serve a 125-mile cross-border route between the Port of Long Beach and Mexico, bringing its clean-truck count to 78 units.

How many clean trucks does Bali Express operate today?

The San Diego County-based carrier currently runs 32 CNG trucks and six battery-electric trucks on the Long Beach-Mexico corridor. The planned additions include Tesla Semi units, according to company director Juan Baez. The fleet expansion comes as the Port of Long Beach formally recognized Bali's Green Truck Corridor operations in a June 26 ceremony attended by Mexican consulate officials.

Bali's stated goal is a fully zero-emission fleet of more than 350 trucks by 2040. The company has moved cargo between Long Beach, its San Diego County facility, and Mexican destinations using the CNG-EV mix for the past year.

What does the Port of Long Beach Green Truck Corridor program cover?

The corridor designation applies to truck routes serving the southern California gateway and cross-border trade lanes. U.S.-Mexico trade hit $873 billion in 2025, with nearly 90 percent moving overland and most of that by truck. The 125-mile Long Beach-Mexico route Bali serves is one of two Green Truck Corridor projects the port has formalized this year.

In May, Long Beach signed a memorandum of understanding with The Wonderful Company and Lincoln Transportation Services to establish a 150-mile corridor connecting the port to California's Central Valley. That project is billed as the world's first port-powered Green Truck Corridor, though the port has not published technical distinctions between the two designations.

What emissions reduction does Bali claim?

Baez said the company's clean operations over the past 12 months were equivalent to removing 1,930 vehicles from the road. The port did not release methodology for that calculation or specify whether the figure accounts for lifecycle emissions from CNG extraction and battery production, or only tailpipe output.

Bali Express is among 43 companies eligible for the port's Zero-Emission Truck Early Leaders Award, announced earlier in June. The award targets businesses that were first to adopt zero-emission trucks serving Long Beach marine terminals. Award criteria and payout structure have not been disclosed.

What does this mean for cross-border equipment planning?

The Bali expansion adds a data point for small fleets weighing CNG and EV adoption on cross-border lanes. The 125-mile Long Beach-Mexico route is short enough for current battery-electric Class 8 range, but the corridor crosses terrain and climate zones that stress both CNG fuel systems and lithium-ion packs. Bali has not released uptime figures, charging infrastructure costs, or comparative TCO for its CNG and EV units.

CNG trucks carry a lower capital cost than battery-electric Class 8s but require fueling infrastructure that is sparse in rural border regions. Tesla has not published Semi production numbers, delivery timelines, or service-network coverage for the Southwest. Fleets ordering Tesla units today face uncertainty on parts availability and warranty support outside California.

The 2040 timeline Bali cited aligns with California's Advanced Clean Fleets rule, which requires drayage fleets serving ports and intermodal facilities to transition to zero-emission vehicles by that year. The rule does not apply to Mexican-domiciled carriers operating under USMCA cross-border authority, but it does cover U.S. carriers like Bali that haul between California ports and the border.

Cross-border carriers face additional complexity from CBP enforcement of DOT cabotage records, which has tightened scrutiny of Mexican trucks operating in U.S. commerce zones. Clean-truck incentives and recognition programs like Long Beach's Early Leaders Award are U.S.-only, creating a compliance and cost gap between U.S. and Mexican fleets on the same lanes.