California Leads the Country in Zero-Emission Trucks | Article

California recently passed the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) Regulation, the nation’s first electric vehicle requirement for commercial trucks. Under this regulation, truck manufacturers must ensure that a certain percentage of trucks sold are zero-emission. The percentage increases each year and varies depending on truck classification. Class 4-8 straight truck sales—which encompass everything from chassis cabs to single-unit dump trucks—must be nine percent electric by 2024 and 75 percent electric by 2035. Larger trucks, such as 18-wheelers, have to be 40 percent electric by 2032.

Electrification can be beneficial even if an electric grid still partially relies on fossil fuels. Through a combination of requiring electric vehicles and transitioning to a carbon neutral power grid, California can establish the infrastructure and technology needed to entirely eliminate emissions from its transportation sector. Furthermore, the average electric vehicle produced today emits fewer greenhouse gases than any gasoline vehicle that gets less than 68 miles to the gallon. Electrifying vehicles can therefore reduce emissions immediately, while simultaneously establishing a path to zero-emissions for the future.

Electrifying trucks is an essential step in California’s goal to reduce emissions by 40 percent by 2030. In 2017, “heavy-duty” vehicles (i.e., all on-road vehicles that are not passenger vehicles) accounted for eight percent of California’s total greenhouse gas emissions, and 21 percent of California’s total transportation emissions. Nationally, medium- and heavy-duty trucks accounted for about 24 percent of the transportation sector’s carbon dioxide emissions in 2015.

Reducing truck emissions does more than reduce greenhouse gases; it also reduces the amount of fine particulate matter emitted by vehicles. This type of pollution—typically called PM2.5—is directly linked to increased heart and lung disease, and it disproportionately affects minority and low-income communities. The Union of Concerned Scientists conducted a study of PM2.5 emitted from cars, trucks, and buses in California. They found that African American, Latino, and Asian Californians are exposed to PM2.5 at rates “43, 39, and 21 percent higher, respectively, than white Californians.” They also found that the poorest households are exposed to 25 percent more PM2.5 than the wealthiest. The study stated that the electrification of vehicles could be a “critical solution for communities that are currently burdened with a disproportionate share of vehicle pollution.”

The ACT regulation is not the first time California has influenced the electric vehicle market. In 1990, the state passed a similar law, the Zero-Emissions Vehicles (ZEV) regulation. This regulation required a certain percentage of passenger vehicles produced to be zero-emission. A 2019 report from Resources for the Future examining the impact of the program states, “it is not an exaggeration to suggest that most of the increase in innovation and demand for vehicle batteries has been as a result of the California ZEV program.”

The success of the ZEV regulation stems largely from the fact that it created an economy of scale for zero-emission vehicles. Before the program, manufacturers had little incentive to invest high research and development costs into manufacturing these vehicles. Once companies were required by law to make the initial investment, the marginal cost for each additional vehicle produced dropped, allowing companies to make a profit from zero-emission vehicles. The ACT regulation is designed to bolster the electric truck market in a similar way. Increased production of electric trucks will theoretically spur greater innovation and technologies, helping make the trucks more cost-effective and desirable to potential buyers.

The ZEV regulation was made more impactful when nine other states adopted it through Section 177 of the Clean Air Act. This helped expand the regulation’s influence on the national vehicle market. Some states have already started moving in this direction with the ACT regulation as well. Governors from 15 states and the mayor of the District of Columbia recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that sets a goal of 100 percent zero-emission medium- and heavy- duty vehicles by 2050. In the MoU, Governor Newsom stated, “Our efforts in California will be magnified through the efforts of this multi-state coalition to reduce emissions and improve air quality.” Though the MoU does not contain specific policies, it clearly establishes that other states plan to follow California’s lead in electrifying trucks.

State governments are hardly alone in their focus on electrifying trucks. The Moving Forward Act, passed by the House of Representatives on July 1, includes $25 billion in funding for the “modernization” of the U.S. Postal Service. Of this total, $6 billion is specifically earmarked for new vehicles, 75 percent of which must be electric or zero-emission. The Act also states that any new vehicles purchased after 2040 must be electric or zero-emission. This Act would potentially create a significant customer in the market for electric trucks and vans, further helping the market grow.

As California’s new ACT regulation is implemented, the public and investors will be able to see the viability of electric trucks. If the regulation is successful and adopted by other states, the next decade could be a turning point for electric transportation.

Author: Maia Crook