California Trucking Industry Aims to Zero-Emissions Standards

On Thursday, the state of California and some of the country's top truck manufacturers reached an agreement to facilitate the industry's transition to zero-emission standards.

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The "Clean Truck Partnership" was reached between the California Air Resources Board (CARB), a state agency that aims to reduce air pollution, and the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association.

The partnership included the trucking industry's major players, such as Cummins, Daimler Truck North America, Ford, General Motors, and Volvo.

Under the agreement, the truck manufacturers were committed to meeting the state air regulator's zero-emission standards regardless of any attempts by other entities to challenge California's authority to set more stringent emissions standards.

In return, CARB is committed to providing no less than four years of lead time and at least three years of regulatory stability before imposing new requirements.

CARB would also align with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s 2027 regulations for nitrogen oxide emissions, which are less stringent than those promoted by California.

As part of the agreement, the state regulator would modify elements of the 2024 nitrogen oxides emission rules for which trick manufacturers would provide offsets as necessary to maintain California's emission targets.

"Today, truck manufacturers join our urgent efforts to slash air pollution, showing the rest of the country that we can both cut dangerous pollution and build the economy of the future," said California Governor Gavin Newsom.

California's Advanced Clean Trucks rule requires manufacturers to accelerate sales of new zero-emissions heavy-duty trucks by 2035.

Under the rule, 40 percent of tractor trailers, 55 percent of small trucks and 75 percent of heavy trucks and vans sold in California by 2035 need to be zero-emission. The rule was approved by the federal government in March.

In April, California approved a new regulation to phase out the sales of medium and heavy-duty combustion trucks in the state by 2036, in order to achieve the goal of 100 percent zero-emission trucks on the roads in California by 2045.