Hourly Load Profiles for Electric Port Cargo Equipment at Top U.S. Airports

Comprising modeled hourly load profiles for electric port cargo handling equipment (eCHE) at the top 25 U.S. cargo airports by tonnage. It was created by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and published in 2025.

Use Cases

• Model grid integration and peak demand scenarios using hourly load profiles for electric port equipment.
• Analyze energy consumption patterns for cargo handling equipment across different major U.S. airports.
• Benchmark simulated electric vehicle load profiles for port operations against other transportation electrification studies.
• Support infrastructure planning for port electrification by utilizing the modeled load data.

Strengths

• Focuses on the top 25 U.S. cargo airports, providing a targeted national scope.
• Data is modeled for electric port cargo handling equipment, a specific and emerging application area.
• Profiles are provided at an hourly resolution, enabling detailed temporal analysis.
• Published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a U.S. Department of Energy lab.

Limitations

• Data is modeled, not measured, which may not reflect real-world operational variances.
• The specific number of rows, columns, and file size are unknown, limiting assessment of dataset scale.
• Geographic coverage is limited to the United States, specifically its top cargo airports.

Provenance

Source

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), U.S. Department of Energy.

Collection Method

Modeled datasets as described in the cited NREL technical report (Polemis et al., 2025).

Freshness

The dataset metadata was last updated in March 2026, and the underlying report was published in 2025.

Geography

United States, specifically the top 25 cargo airports by tonnage.