The Biden-led administration has taken a fresh step in its expansive environmental plan, introducing new regulations directing emissions produced by heavy-duty road vehicles like trucks and buses. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) broke the news on Friday, declaring these regulations as the most stringent of their kind to tackle climate change. Commencing from the 2026 model year and incrementally intensifying up until 2032, these regulations will necessitate a greater proportion of buses and trucks to transition into zero emissions during this period.
The Biden administration views these standards to be synergistic with its massive investment in cutting emissions, endorsing American workers, and accelerating manufacturing for evolving transportation modes. By putting a cap on pollution from heavy-duty vehicles primarily, considerable health, economic, and environmental benefits can be reaped.
Implementing these emissions standards on heavy-duty vehicles such as trucks and buses, the EPA is addressing one of the primary sources of pollution. These stringent standards come on the heels of similar regulations for light- and medium-duty vehicles, with the objective to mitigate the transportation sector’s contribution to the global climate crisis.
The EPA extols its firm standards, stating they would dodge a billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions, whilst yielding $13 billion in net annual societal benefits spanning public health, climate, and business savings. The agency contends that these regulations will pave the way for the heavy-duty vehicle industry’s ongoing growth.
The recently appointed regulations extend to short and long-haul tractor-trailer trucks, along with various vocational trucks including delivery vehicles, garbage trucks, public transit and school buses, concrete trucks and fire trucks. The EPA earlier projected these standards could result in half of the vocational truck, a third of short-haul tractor-trailers, and a quarter of long-haul tractor-trailers manufactured in 2032 being electric.
Presently, new truck sales in the United States falling under the zero-emissions category amount to less than 1%. This data is presented by the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association, embodying global leaders in heavy-duty vehicle production.
With worsening climate change and communities grappling with abnormal fires, droughts, and floods, the onus is on truck manufacturers to shift gears towards zero-emission vehicles. The instances of these extreme weather conditions underscore the pressing need for moving towards an industry that actively mitigates these environmental threats.
Environmental proponents, including Garcia, who praised the regulations, have long urged federal authorities to regulate the trucking industry due to its extensive carbon footprint. As per federal records, the transportation sector contributes 29% to total national greenhouse gas emissions; medium and heavy-duty trucks represent 23% of these emissions. Again, existing zero-emission truck sales currently account for less than 1% of total sales.
However, the newly-implemented regulations have been met with resistance from the trucking and energy production industries, voicing concerns over potential cost hikes for trucking companies. Small, family-owned trucking businesses constitute 96% of the industry, and they too want clean air just like anyone else. Yet, this administration appears to be unyieldingly regulating them, threatening their existence with multiplicity of stringent environmental directives.
Last year, the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association brought forward its concerns to the EPA, pointing out the administration’s overestimation of the short-term market penetration potential and adoption rates of electric trucks, and the demand for the same.
American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers President and CEO Chet Thompson, along with American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Mike Sommers, has called on Congress to swiftly overturn these regulations, indicating a potential legal conflict with the administration over the ruling.
Republican lawmakers are also likely to voice stern critiques of the regulations, with repeated warnings already conveyed to the Biden administration against burdening the heavy-duty vehicle industry. Most recently, Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, expressed his intentions to put forth a resolution to repeal the standards.
Although these final standards are slightly more lenient than the draft proposed standards back in April 2023, they culminate the EPA’s emission standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles, billed as their most strict to date.