The Biden administration has begun a crackdown on emissions generated by heavy duty diesel trucks and buses with regulations announced Friday aimed at forcing those vehicles to work towards meeting zero pollution targets.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claims the new rules represent the “strongest-ever greenhouse gas emissions” standards of their kind with everything from city buses and box trucks to garbage trucks and 18-wheelers targeted.
The truck rules do not explicitly mandate a shift toward electric vehicles (EVs). Instead, they set average pollution limits for truckmakers’ fleets that are expected to push them in the direction of electric and other lower-emitting technologies like hybrids.
FOX News reports the rules will kick in beginning in 2026 for model year 2027 vehicles and progressively become more stringent through model year 2032, forcing a larger number of trucks and buses to be zero-emissions in that time frame even as questions remain as to their efficiency.
The rules apply to manufacturers, and while it’s up to manufacturers to choose how to comply, the Biden administration aims to force makers to lean heavily on battery-powered vehicles as alternatives.
“In finalizing these emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and buses, EPA is significantly cutting pollution from the hardest-working vehicles on the road,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan.
Trucks line up to leave a shipping terminal at the Port of Oakland on March 31, 2023 in Oakland, California. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is already allowing California to phase out a variety of diesel-powered trucks in the state and require truck manufacturers to sell more zero-emission electric trucks. Half of all heavy trucks sales of heavy truck in California will have to be electric by 2035. (Justin Sullivan/Getty)
“Building on our recently finalized rule for light- and medium-duty vehicles, EPA’s strong and durable vehicle standards respond to the urgency of the climate crisis by making deep cuts in emissions from the transportation sector.”
The new regulations apply to short-haul and long-haul tractor-trailer trucks, in addition to vocational trucks like delivery vehicles, garbage trucks, school and public transit buses, concrete trucks and fire trucks.
EPA claims the standards could lead to 50 percent of vocational trucks, 35 percent of short-haul tractor-trailers and 25 percent of long-haul tractor-trailers produced in 2032 being electric
Less than one percent of new truck sales in the U.S. are currently zero-emissions, according to the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association, which represents the world’s leading manufacturers of heavy-duty vehicles.