new York The California Air Resources Board (CARB) on Thursday held the final hearing on a 2036 ban on diesel trucks. CARB wants to vote on the ban as early as Friday. Approval is expected. The Handelsblatt learned this from three people familiar with the process.
According to the US transport industry, the decision marks a turning point for the trucking industry. The extent of the new regulation is unprecedented. Nervousness is high among both truck manufacturers and freight forwarders.
California is considered the lead market for the USA. The decisions of the supervisory authorities in the world’s fifth-largest economy also have a global signal effect. If the CARB Council votes in favor of the ban, the purchase of new diesel trucks would be banned from 2036. By 2042, almost all trucks in the state would have to be converted to emission-free vehicles, i.e. to electric or hydrogen drives.
The regulation will have a significant positive impact on “public health,” said a CARB spokesman when asked by the Handelsblatt. “The proposed regulation provides for a gradual transition to transition fleets to zero-emission vehicles, with milestones set up to 2042 for certain vehicle types.”
As early as August 2022, CARB issued a regulation that stipulates that truck manufacturers must offer an increasing number of emission-free light commercial vehicles every year starting in the 2026 model year. In 2026 their share is expected to increase to 35 percent, in 2030 to 68 percent and in 2035 to 100 percent.
>> Also interesting: Elon Musk is changing the electric car market with his discount strategy
With the change now under discussion, the so-called “Advanced Clean Fleets” regulation (ACF), these rules would be significantly tightened again. From 2036, large freight forwarders would have no other option than to procure emission-free vehicles for heavy goods traffic.
“The requirement to sell 100 percent zero-emission vehicles has been brought forward to 2036 from the original start date of 2040. This change means that all new vehicles sold in California must be zero-emissions by 2036.
“The most aggressive regulations of its kind”
CARB had already decided on Thursday to phase out heavy diesel locomotives. “These are the most aggressive regulations of their kind,” Berkeley law professor Ethan Elkind told the San Francisco Chronicle. The new regulation of the truck market, which is due for Friday, goes even further.
According to Sydney Vergis, CARB’s director of pollution in the transportation sector, the proposed truck regulation aims to put California at the forefront of the world. “This rule is the first of its kind. It gives the industry clarity about where California is going,” Vergis said. The government in Sacramento wants to make the state carbon neutral by 2045.
The regulation will reduce “asthma attacks, emergency room visits and respiratory illnesses” due to poor air quality, saving California more than $26 billion in costs, the CARB spokesman said.
>> Read also: Bosch is investing $1.5 billion in California
There are exceptions for smaller haulage companies and existing fleets, among others. Multi-year transitional regulations apply to these. There are also exceptions if companies can prove that there are no available alternatives to diesel trucks for their intended purpose.
The planned new regulation is causing unrest in the American truck industry. Large freight forwarders in particular fear that there will be neither adequate and affordable zero-emission trucks nor a corresponding charging infrastructure in the coming years.
Behind the scenes, interest groups are up in arms against the new regulation. They also warn of problems in the already strained US supply chains. According to the California Trucking Association, higher prices and reduced availability of certain goods are likely. It is also questionable how the sometimes ailing Californian power grid should deal with the peak loads that arise from the charging processes. The schedule was impossible to keep, it was said in advance by the Californian municipal association CSDA.
Electric and hydrogen trucks could benefit
Daimler Truck North America, the largest truck manufacturer in the USA, does not want to comment on the new regulation on request. In company circles it is said that suitable trucks will be available by the deadline. However, the charging infrastructure must keep pace. Shares in hydrogen companies and truck makers like Plug Power and Nikola rose sharply on Thursday.
With the passage of the ACF regulation, “California is sending a clear and immediate market signal that the harmful trucks with internal combustion engines, which have long polluted many communities, must give way to the demand for zero-emission vehicles,” explained Nikola CEO Michael Lohscheller when asked by Handelsblatt . Nikola is ready to support Californian fleet operators with battery and soon also with hydrogen trucks. A hydrogen filling station network is also planned.
Daimler Truck announced the brand name for its US electricity and hydrogen filling station network on Thursday: Greenlane. It is being built as part of a $650 million joint venture. The German truck market leader is working with the financial giant BlackRock, among others. The first location is planned in Southern California.
More: America in e-pickup fever – the electric monsters are coming