The Biden administration on Friday announced regulations aimed at significantly boosting sales of electric vehicles and other zero-emission heavy vehicles, from school buses to cement mixers, as part of a multi-pronged attack on global warming. did.
The Environmental Protection Agency says the new rules could make 25% of the heaviest new long-haul trucks on the road and 40% of medium-duty trucks, such as box trucks and landscape trucks, non-polluting by 2032. I predict that there will be. Less than 2% of new heavy-duty trucks sold in the United States meet this requirement.
The regulations apply to more than 100 types of vehicles, including tractor-trailers, ambulances, RVs, garbage trucks, and mobile vans.
This rule does not mandate the sale of electric trucks or other types of zero- or low-emission trucks. Rather, starting with the 2027 model year, the amount of pollution allowed from trucks across manufacturers' product lines will become increasingly limited over time. It is up to the manufacturer to decide how to comply. Options could include the use of technologies such as hybrids and hydrogen fuel cells, or significantly increasing the fuel efficiency of conventional trucks.
The truck regulations follow another rule finalized last week that aims to make the majority of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States fully electric or hybrid by 2032. This is an increase from just 7.6%.
The car and truck rules are aimed at reducing carbon pollution from transportation, the nation's largest source of fossil fuel emissions, which is driving climate change and contributing to making 2023 the hottest year on record. Electric vehicles are at the center of President Biden's global warming strategy, which calls for cutting the nation's emissions in half by the end of the decade.
“Today, EPA is taking another big step to protect future generations from climate change,” said Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan.
Mr. Regan noted that large trucks are essential to moving goods across the country, but the pollution they produce not only contributes to climate change but also worsens air quality in many communities. . New limits on truck tailpipe emissions, combined with other regulations, “means we're tackling both public health challenges head-on,” Regan said.
The agency said the transition to cleaner trucks will help reduce emissions of soot and other pollutants that affect the approximately 72 million people who live near freight truck routes in the United States. Research shows that those affected are disproportionately low-income and people of color.
“Exposure to traffic-related pollution is a serious health risk for people living in areas with heavy truck traffic,” Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association, said in a statement. Stated. Air pollution is associated with a variety of health effects, including poor births, chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and premature death.
According to the EPA, truck tailpipe regulations are expected to prevent approximately 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2055, an annual increase from the combustion of gasoline carried by more than 13 million tanker trucks. equivalent to emissions. Delivering an average of $13 billion in net benefits to society annually related to public health, climate change, and fuel savings for truck owners and drivers.
All-electric passenger cars are a small part of the American car market, but they are no longer a niche product. A record 1.2 million electric cars were sold by dealers last year as EV prices fell and some models became competitive with conventional cars.
The same cannot be said for electric trucks, which appear to be a long way off from widespread adoption. Currently, electric trucks cost two to three times the list price of diesel trucks, reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, as production expands, prices may come down and owners may enjoy fuel savings and reduced maintenance costs. Electric trucks require larger and heavier batteries, which reduces the amount of cargo a vehicle can transport. Electric trucks also require very powerful chargers. Power companies may need to upgrade distribution lines, transformers, and other equipment to provide the energy needed to refuel multiple trucks simultaneously.
According to the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association, which represents companies that manufacture and manufacture equipment for heavy-duty trucks, while there are approximately 200,000 public chargers for electric passenger vehicles in the United States, there are only a few charging stations that can accommodate heavy-duty trucks. There are said to be only 5,000 locations. duty truck. According to the Department of Energy, there are only nine public fast-charging stations that can service large trucks. The rest are privately owned in warehouses and depots. The Truck Manufacturers Association estimates that 1 million public and private chargers will be needed to support the number of electric trucks envisioned in the truck regulations. .
“Without the infrastructure, customers will not be able to drive zero-emission vehicles,” said Jed Mandel, president of the association. His organization includes three of the nation's largest truck manufacturers. Daimler Trucks owns Freightliner. Volvo Trucks; and Traton, the division of Volkswagen that owns Navistar. These companies urged the EPA to loosen some requirements in the final version of the regulation.
The agency made some concessions. The pace at which truck manufacturers had to comply with the rules eased initially, then sharply increased after 2030.
On Wednesday, manufacturers had a subdued response to the rule. John Meese, a spokesman for Volvo Group North America, said in a statement that the company is “fully aligned with the EPA's goal of accelerating the transition to zero-emission vehicles.” He said the final regulations are “more realistic than what was originally proposed.”
But Meese said customers won't buy the vehicle if they aren't sure it can be easily charged, which the Biden administration can't guarantee.
“This is an ambitious goal, and achieving it will pose challenges across the industry,” said Cummins, an Indiana-based company that makes conventional truck engines and has begun manufacturing electric versions. said John Mills, a spokesman. He said Cummins is “uniquely positioned” to develop and manufacture a wide range of technologies.
But truck drivers are scary. Todd Spencer, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents truck drivers, said, “This administration has continued to enact unenforceable environmental regulations that will restrict and wipe out all local independent contractors.'' It looks like they're taking it seriously.”
Chippewa Falls, Wis.-based truck driver Mike Nichols, who owns an 18-wheeler that hauls rice, sugar and grain, has no plans to buy an all-electric truck even with the help of generous government subsidies. He said he had no intention of buying it. “They can't carry that heavy,” he said. “They can't do that much work.”
Nichols is skeptical that enough charging stations will be built to support long-haul truckers. And while he spends about $50,000 a year on diesel fuel, he imagines the electricity needed to charge the batteries of a large electric vehicle could equal or exceed that in some cases. He said he is doing so.
“Their ambition may be admirable, but they haven't thought this through enough,” he said of the new rules.
Former President Donald J. Trump, who is seeking to retake the White House, has repeatedly attacked Biden's policies to accelerate the transition to all-electric passenger cars. His campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the truck regulations.
But Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill said they would introduce a bill to remove the new rules. Sens. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and Representatives John James of Michigan and Russ Fulcher of Idaho said in a statement: American consumers and workers will pay the price for the administration's attempts to phase out the internal combustion engine. ”
Experts say stricter restrictions on truck tailpipes are possible. “This will put more electric trucks on the road, but it will also put more fuel-efficient conventional diesel trucks on the road,” says the International Clean Transportation Council, a research organization. said Ray Minjarez, heavy vehicle program director at. We work closely with the EPA on policy development. “It's not about electrifying all heavy trucks.”
The rule would force major changes for short-haul vehicles such as school buses, city buses, garbage trucks, and moving vans (vehicles that travel less than 400 miles per day and return to the same charging location each night). The purpose is that. Minjares said. At least two-thirds of all heavy-duty truck trips are less than 400 miles, well within the range of currently available electric trucks, according to CalStart, a nonprofit organization whose members include industry and government officials. .
“Moving goods in a less polluting way has always felt out of reach, but now for the first time, we are An affordable solution has emerged.” Gore is a former vice president and Nobel Prize-winning climate change activist. “It's a very solvable problem.”
California and 10 other states have already enacted regulations even more ambitious than the EPA rule. These states require that half of all new heavy-duty vehicles sold be fully electric by 2035.
And companies that own trucks are starting to invest in electric models. Frito-Lay operates 15 all-electric 18-wheel Tesla semi-trucks daily from its warehouse in Modesto, Calif., delivering Doritos, Lay's and other snacks to the warehouse and returning each night to charge.
Rialto, Calif.-based trucking company 4 Gen Logistics has a fleet of 70 zero-emission trucks from Volvo Trucks, Kenworth, BYD and Nikola. “Some of these trucks only do 80 miles a day,” said David Thornburgh, a contractor who helped launch the fourth generation of zero-emissions vehicles.
The company, which transports containers from ports in Long Beach and Los Angeles to other warehouses in Southern California, plans to phase out its remaining 20 diesel trucks next year. Electric trucks are typically charged overnight at Gen 4 stations.
However, Thornburgh noted that installing chargers is expensive and time-consuming. “Some equipment has a one-year lead time,” he says. “It’s not something you can pull off the shelf.”
Businesses may be eligible for federal grants. The bipartisan Infrastructure Act of 2021 includes $7.5 billion for charging infrastructure, including charging stations for heavy-duty trucks, and $5.6 billion to help fund zero- and low-emission buses. The Anti-Inflation Act of 2022 provides $1 billion for electric trucks, including up to $40,000 in tax credits for businesses purchasing electric trucks and subsidies for charging infrastructure. Earlier this month, the Department of Energy and the Department of Transportation announced a strategy to prioritize construction of large electric truck chargers in designated “zero-emission freight corridors.”
Thornburgh said government support is essential, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. “These are $10 million sites,” Thornburg said. “It's very difficult to subdue that capital without the help of others.”
“If you’re a trucking company, it’s very difficult to stay in business,” he said.