The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has withdrawn its Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) rule and Transport Refrigeration Units (TRUs, “reefers”) waiver requests to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). CARB acknowledged that the opposition of the incoming Trump administration to the mandates is driving the withdrawal of those waiver requests. Under federal law, the state of California has the ability to seek emission standards which differ from the EPA’s nationwide emission standards (https://www.prepassalliance.org/california-zero-emissions-updates/). EPA must first grant a California waiver request.
Recently EPA partially granted California’s low-emission rules for TRUs but denied a mandatory TRU transition to zero emissions over seven years. CARB has also withdrawn pending waiver requests for zero-emission programs for commercial harbor watercraft and railroad locomotives. However, a CARB request for a transition to zero-emission passenger cars was granted by EPA.
The ACF rule was strongly opposed by the trucking industry. Battery-operated zero-emission (ZEV) trucks potentially fit some local and short-haul operations, where the trucks can return to an overnight charging station. But for longer haul and heavier trucks, the lack of interstate charging infrastructure, the vehicles’ demonstrated short operating range, and the added weight of the batteries, as well as the high cost of ZEVs themselves, all weighed against the California mandate.
Still to be decided is the future of programs in the several states following California’s lead in seeking zero-emission trucks, as well as the 23 states which joined the Nebraska Attorney General in an antitrust lawsuit against truck manufacturers.