A cleaner truck encounters a detour.

Rudy Diaz placed a bold wager two years ago. The owner of Hight Logistics, a trucking company that transports containers from the busy ports surrounding Los Angeles, is 45 years old.
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He started expanding his fleet with some of the first electric heavy-duty vehicles in the nation. Earlier this month, on a cloudy morning, one passes by, eerily silent save for the sound of its big tires crunching on the pavement. Diaz, who currently has 20 electric trucks in his fleet of 75 tractor trailers, exclaims, "There are no fumes or noises." Diaz's efforts were expected to swiftly become standard practice for operators of the country's heavy-duty fleets, such as drayage companies transporting cargo from ocean ports and long-haul truckers travelling across several states. In 2020, California passed a rule that has since been embraced
by ten other states, mandating that truck manufacturers sell a greater percentage of emission-free versions, including for the biggest semi-trucks. Soon after, California enacted a new law mandating that fleet owners purchase additional zero-emission vehicles. The strictest deadline for drayage corporations, such as Hight Logistics, was to achieve 100% emission-free status by 2035.
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Meanwhile, the federal government last year tightened tailpipe requirements for heavy-duty vehicles, which would effectively force truck manufacturers like Daimler Truck AG and Volvo AB to produce dramatically more electric trucks. Now these rules are teetering. President Donald Trump, who is taking aim at California's more stringent vehicle requirements, is also expected to go after the federal tailpipe rules. Meanwhile, 19 states, all of which voted for Trump in the most recent election, filed a legal challenge against California's requirements for truck manufacturers. And in January, the California Air Resources Board effectively gutted its rule that would push fleet owners like Diaz into electric trucks after it became apparent former President Joe Biden wouldn't grant the required approval before leaving office. The darkening landscape for such rules is a blow to businesses that have poured gobs of money and years of toil into California's expected clean-energy transition for heavy-duty trucks. "It's a setback," says Salim Youssefzadeh, the chief executive officer of WattEV, which has spent tens of millions of dollars building charging stations for trucks across California. "That's probably going to delay some of these larger fleets from going electric." Salim Youssefzadeh of WattEV, which has spent tens of millions building chargers. . "We're much more cautious than we were a year ago, with these changes," says R. Andrew de Pass, head of renewable and sustainable investments at Vitol Inc., a larger energy trader. Any slowdown will hinder efforts to clean up one of the economy's dirtiest sectors. Commercial vehicles are expected to surpass passenger cars as the planet's leading source of transportation emissions by 2039, according to research firm NEF. In California, heavy-duty trucks contribute about 7% of the state's heat-trapping emissions. These trucks run mostly on diesel, which also emits harmful particulates that heighten risks for cancer and asthma near ports and along busy shipping corridors. The California Air Resources Board, which oversees the state's clean-truck rules, says it remains committed to slashing pollution from trucks and is considering other courses of action. "We will explore all viable options to reduce harmful emissions...and safeguard our environment," says a spokesperson for the agency.
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Some nations are learning how to accomplish this considerably more quickly. According to CALSTART, a nonprofit organization dedicated to clean transportation, as of mid-year of last year, there were little over 3,000 electric heavy-duty trucks on the road in the United States, compared to tens of thousands of small electric delivery vans. Thanks to its more affordable batteries and generous incentives, China now adds that many every nine days. "Policy incentives are important," says analyst Maynie Yang of NEF. "The US will stall its development of an EV supply chain and ensure its trucks remain more expensive by withdrawing support at this early stage," she argues.
Source @ Bloomberg

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