California Adopts Advanced Clean Fleets Rule Setting Zero-Emission Truck Deadlines
In April 2023, CARB approved a rule to end sales of combustion trucks in 2036 and phase zero-emission vehicles into drayage and large fleets.
On April 28, 2023, the California Air Resources Board approved the Advanced Clean Fleets regulation, a rule requiring a phased transition to zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks. CARB described the rule's end to combustion truck sales in 2036 as a first in the world. Land Line reported that the board vote was unanimous.
The timelines
Under the rule as described by CARB:
- Drayage trucks must be zero-emission by 2035.
- Private fleets such as last-mile delivery operations, federal fleets such as the Postal Service, and state and local government fleets begin their transition starting in 2024.
- Existing vehicles can continue operating through their useful life.
- Fleets on the optional milestone path must transition last-mile delivery and yard trucks by 2035, work trucks and day cab tractors by 2039, and sleeper cab tractors and specialty vehicles by 2042.
Land Line reported that newly added drayage trucks had to be zero-emission beginning in January 2024, and that "high priority" fleets were defined as those with 50 or more vehicles, more than $50 million in annual revenue, federal fleets, or entities that hire or dispatch fleets. CARB said fleets could receive exemptions based on available technology.
CARB's case
CARB said trucks make up 6% of vehicles on California roads but more than 35% of the state's transportation-generated nitrogen oxide emissions. It estimated $26.6 billion in health savings and $48 billion in fleet operating cost savings through 2050, and said about 150 zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty truck models were commercially available in the US.
"We have the technology available to start working toward a zero-emission future now," CARB Chair Liane Randolph said.
The rule followed CARB's 2020 Advanced Clean Trucks rule requiring manufacturers to increase zero-emission truck sales. Land Line noted that Advanced Clean Fleets still needed approval from the US Environmental Protection Agency before taking full effect.
Industry pushback
American Trucking Associations President Chris Spear said in a statement that fleets had learned zero-emission trucks "are significantly more expensive, charging and refueling infrastructure is nonexistent, and ZEVs are not necessarily a one-for-one replacement." He called the targets unrealistic.
California Trucking Association CEO Eric Sauer told Land Line that CARB had "put forth an overly ambitious, unrealistic, and unfeasible proposal" that did not account for charging infrastructure, truck availability, battery weight or the effect on smaller trucking companies.
What it means for drivers and fleets
The April 2023 vote put firm dates on the calendar for California operators. Drayage carriers serving the state's ports faced the earliest and strictest requirements, while large and high-priority fleets had to begin planning purchases, charging or fueling, and routes around the milestone schedule. Fleets that operate older trucks gained some breathing room from the useful-life provision, and the exemption process offered a path where suitable zero-emission models were not available. Carriers based outside California but running into the state also needed to watch whether their fleet size or revenue put them in the high-priority category, and whether EPA would grant the approval the rule needed.