CARB's withdrawal of its ACF waiver could expedite cleaner trucking

Ccj Logo White Headshot
Transcript

California this month withdrew its waiver request with the EPA to implement its Advanced Clean Fleets rule, which would have effectively mandated electric trucks in the state. This isn’t quite the death knell for electric trucks that it might sound like, and it could infact be a good thing for cleaner trucking.

Contents of this video 

00:00 10-44 into 

00:22 Advanced Clean Fleets waiver 

02:00 Renewable diesel, bio diesel and natural gas 

04:04 Clean trucking 

05:31 OEMs deployment timeline

Transcript

Speaker 1:

California's decision to end pursuit of its advanced clean fleets waiver could actually expedite clean trucking. You're watching CCJs 10 44, a weekly episode that brings you the latest trucking industry news and updates from the editors of CC J. Don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell for notifications so you'll never miss an installment of 10 44. Hey everybody, welcome back. I'm Jason Cannon and my co-host On the other side, as always is Matt Cole, California. This month withdrew its waiver request from the EPA to implement its advanced clean fleets rule, which would've effectively mandated electric trucks in the state. This isn't quite the death nail for electric trucks that it might sound like and it could in fact be a good thing for cleaner trucking.

Speaker 2:

Any pursuit of a CF didn't affect California's advanced clean truck rule, which mandates sales of zero emission trucks versus the number of diesels. It also doesn't touch carbs omnibus rule, which is kind of like a turbocharge GHG phase three, a federal guideline. That itself is untouched while the shelving of A CF likely changes, if not slows adoption of electric trucks. It won't end it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it'll change the future of the electric truck. I think obviously we still have a CT. We still have GHG phase three from the EPA, so you still have the emission requirements, which as you know, under a CT essentially mandates. Well, battery electric is the only truck that would qualify. So as far as California goes, and again with GHG phase three, I think we all have to assume there's still going to be a future for battery electric, right? And of course, all the money the OEMs have pumped into it. But I do think it will change, as you say. I think it'll slow it down a little bit. I think that the rush for the infrastructure, to the extent there is a rush going on right now in the infrastructure space, I think that'll slow as well. But I do think there will be a continued push and demand toward battery electric even without a CF

Speaker 1:

President. Donald Trump mentioned throughout his campaign plans to roll back strict emissions requirements and it, his inauguration address Monday again referenced ending e subsidies and his plans to drill baby drill. Jim says, those could be good things for other means of lower emissions trucking, namely renewable and biodiesel and natural gas.

Speaker 3:

I would never, ever speak for the OEMs, but obviously there are some OEMs that are still developing and have developed those other technologies. Cummins obviously is pursuing other technologies, and then there are aftermarket technologies out there as well on bio and renewable. So I do think there's an opportunity for both of those in California and elsewhere. And I think what's going to be real interesting is with California withdrawn the A CF waiver and incoming President Trump has indicated he intends to do, if he reopens greenhouse gas phase three and the timelines, if they somehow rescind a CT, I do think all three of those things combined would be a great opportunity for BioD solar and renewable, which as you know, both of those have a more beneficial lifecycle carbon footprint than does battery electric. So those will all be good things. I've talked to some agricultural producers the other day and their percentage of feedstock versus what's used for bio and renewable, the percentage that's used for bio is much greater than I believed.

And so when people say you can't use the agricultural products for fuel because it takes away from feedstock and there's not enough of that, I just don't believe there's any truth to that. So I think the supply for bio and renewable is sufficient, and I think when you start to see more parity on credits and incentives and you take away this singular focused mandate on battery electric, I think that those other technologies and alternatives will get a boost. Without a doubt, you don't have huge infrastructure costs with those other technologies that you have at Battery. Electric.

Speaker 2:

Carbon have been waiting for the A CF waiver for over a year, but Jim says dropping the matter entirely is likely no big deal in Trucking's ongoing quest to clean up it's carbon footprint.

Speaker 3:

I don't think it's that big of a deal. As we've talked about already, there are other solutions out there that are cleaner than battery electric. Again, talking about lifecycle, not just the tailpipe of course. And so the industry has been pushing hard for decades for cleaner trucks, and the progress is significant. And there are other technologies really that have been developed and are in the pipeline. And if you start to see some more parody on things like the tax credits for biodiesel, if you start to see parody or some semblance of parody on subsidies for those technologies as opposed to just entirely on battery electric, I think you'll see if not the same pace, a quicker pace to get to cleaner trucks than we were going to see under this mandated transition to battery electric trucks that car was pursuing. And by the way, right? So they've rescinded or withdrawn their waiver on a CF, but they certainly have other mechanisms by which they can continue to put the pressure on the industry to get the a hundred percent battery electric. So I don't by any means think that because a CF waiver was withdrawn that California has given up the fight on that angle. I don't think that's true at all.

Speaker 1:

As much as a CF was derided by the transportation industry at large, Jim says there's no celebrating the decision to remove it. Stakeholders do appreciate the flexibility and the removal of what was a fast track adoption for expensive technologies, but it seemingly also gives the OEMs more control over a development cycle and a timeline that better aligns with technology maturation.

Speaker 3:

It's definitely a good sign and it allows the fleets to take a breath. But to mention the OEMs, I mean, they still have a large role in this. It'll be interesting to see what they do. In light of the withdrawal of the A CF waiver, you saw that Daimler quit selling product or diesel product in Oregon. Now they've turned it back on to their credit issue. But the OEM is still going to have a pretty large role in this on how they're going to spend their RD money and what products they're going to pursue. But the short story is the members of the CFC and the folks in their associations, they find this as a positive move. It gives them a little bit of breathing room, and then working in conjunction with the incoming administration, hopefully get some relief on those other two regulations that I talked about. GHG three and a CT.

Speaker 1:

That's it for this week's 10 44. You can read more on ccj digital.com. While you're there, sign up for our newsletter and stay up to date on the latest and trucking industry, news and trends, trends. If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know in the comments below. Don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell for notifications so you can catch us again next week.