Truck Makers Agree To End Gas-Powered Sales In California By 2036

Daimler Freightliner eCascadia all-electric semitrucks charge at a Meijer distribution center in Lansing, Michigan, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. The Grand Rapids, Michigan-based retailer is the first nationwide to track the performance of the Freightliner eCascadia semitrucks in a cold weather environment as part of a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Photo: Emily Elconin/Bloomberg (Getty Images)

The California Air Resources Board and some of the largest truck manufacturers in the world reached an agreement on Thursday to transition truck sales in the state to zero emissions engines by 2036.

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Of course, the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association — which represents truck makers such as the Big Three plus Cummins, Volvo, Peterbilt and several other — didn’t reach this deal without a fight. EMA lobbyists have fought against cleaner heavy-duty truck rules at the state level for years. Manufacturers may be more willing to play ball with California after the 2021 Infrastructure Act. That $1.8 trillion piece of legislation heavily favored EV development and phasing out dirty engines.

In the end, a compromise brought everyone to the table, according to the Associated Press:

The companies agreed to follow California’s rules, which include banning the sale of new gas-powered trucks by 2036. In the meantime, California regulators agreed to loosen some of their emission standards for diesel trucks. The state agreed to use the federal emission standard starting in 2027, which is lower than what the California rules would have been.

California regulators also agreed to let these companies continue to sell more older diesel engines over the next three years, but only if they also sell zero-emission vehicles to offset the emissions from those older trucks.

The agreement between CARB and EMA will do more than just clear a path for zero emissions truck sales by the next decade in California; as CARB goes, so goes over a dozen other states as well as Washington D.C. It’s a good thing, too — 60 percent of truck traffic in California is from trucks from other states.

The race for an electric semi truck that works just as well as its diesel cousins has produced interesting models from Volvo, Tesla, Nikola and others. While EV trucks are incredibly beneficial — medium and heavy duty trucks are responsible for a quarter of American transportation emissions and half of nitrogen oxides — greening these machines comes with some unique challenges. Semi’s monster batteries would require a nationwide network of extremely high capacity speciality chargers. Freight weight can also reduce range and, with semi trucks size and weight closely regulated on state and federal levels, EV trucks might have to sacrifice cargo for battery weight. Heavier weights can also contribute to the microplastics epidemic as tires on heavy vehicles are one of the number one sources of the harmful pollution.