In April 2023, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted state pollution standards for heavy-duty trucks called the Advanced Clean Fleets rule (ACF). The ACF standards are much stricter than those found in the federal Clean Air Act.
ACF would over time eliminate the sale and use of gas- and diesel-powered trucks in the state. Sales of fossil-fueled medium- and heavy-duty trucks would be banned in California beginning in 2036. Large trucking fleets would be required to convert to electric or hydrogen truck models by 2042.
First, though, CARB must obtain a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), or else have EPA determine that a waiver is not necessary, before CARB can enforce the ACF rule’s pollution standards. California has long had the ability under federal law to adopt emissions standards which differ from the EPA national standards, but each update by California requires a new EPA waiver.
A waiver from EPA must meet certain technical standards. EPA held a virtual hearing on the California waiver August 14. State officials and environmental groups argued that an EPA waiver met the standard of “compelling and extraordinary conditions” due to pollution in California. Trucking associations responded that the ACF rules are not “technologically feasible” because zero-emission trucks are costly, have limited range, and lack a statewide charging infrastructure. The EPA spokesperson declined to say when a waiver decision would be made.
Since that EPA hearing, 24 other states wrote EPA in opposition to the grant of a California waiver. Meanwhile, in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation allowing a maximum gross vehicle weight limit for a zero-emission or near-zero-emission trucks of 82,000 pounds, a 2,000-pound increase intended to help accommodate the weight of the batteries electric trucks require (per the University of California Institute of Transportation Studies, battery-operated long-haul trucks would be 5,328 pounds heavier than comparable diesel trucks).
November 5 looms as a critical date in the California waiver saga. As a UC-Davis professor stated at the EPA hearing, “…gaining the waivers before November is important,” because the prior Administration did not support the California waiver request.