California’s Zero-Emissions Rule Triggers a Run on Diesel Rigs
https://www.wsj.com/articles/californias-zero-emissions-rule-triggers-a-run-on-diesel-rigs-863d6444
Diesel trucks will have a limited future in California under the new rule, one of a series of regulations that target carbon emissions across the state’s supply chains. The California rule will phase out the use of diesel trucks until the more than 30,000 diesel big rigs that now serve the state’s ports are banned by 2035.
The regulation is already proving a challenge for truckers across California, from the agricultural export hub at the Port of Oakland to the nation’s busiest gateway for containerized imports at the Southern California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Trucking executives say the state’s regulators are getting far out in front of the industry’s ability to deliver zero-emission rigs.
The technology underpinning electric vehicles is still developing, they say, and the zero-emission trucks are triple the cost of diesel trucks, while the vehicles and charging stations are in limited supply.
The struggles show the difficulty local and federal authorities face as they try to push a heavily-polluting industry toward cleaner fuels.
In California, state officials and regulators are trying to jump-start a market for zero-emission vehicles by mandating their use in state-regulated spaces. They also hope the mandate draws in more suppliers of charging infrastructure.
For now, however, the rules are boosting sales of diesel trucks.
Trucking companies typically buy vehicles ahead of new environmental mandates because older trucks purchased before mandates generally are allowed to keep operating once new rules take effect. Buying the trucks beforehand allows companies to push back the expense of buying cleaner, more expensive rigs.
“I have to think every trucker in California is doing all they can to get as many pre-mandate trucks in place as they possibly can,” said Kenny Vieth, president of ACT Research.
California has tried to soften the blow for operators by providing grants for truckers buying zero-emission trucks. But production of the vehicles is so limited and the cost and complexity of running the trucks so high that there are fewer than 150 zero-emission trucks in service at the Southern California ports today, said Matt Schrap, CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association trade group.