CARB's Clean Trucks Initiative Snared in Legal Limbo
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The relationship between America’s truck makers and the California Air Resources Board forged in the Clean Truck Partnership is beginning to fray, even as stakeholders urge the former to patch things up with the latter.
CARB in late July approved modifications to its Advanced Clean Trucks law, arguing the alterations would ease original equipment manufacturers’ path to zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) sales goals.
OEMs would be able to pool and transfer ZEV credits as well as offset some Classes 7-8 tractor requirements with Class 2b-3 or Classes 4-8 credits under changes approved at a July 24 meeting.
However, truck makers — particularly Daimler Truck North America — argue CARB sidelined manufacturers in crafting the changes and question whether they are even bound by the terms of the CTP anymore.
Chair : This QTs modest decline in ZEV vehicle sales is no surprise given the federal govts misguided & ongoing assault on clean transportation. While they may slow progress, they can’t change the fact that ZEV vehicles are here to stay.
— CARB (@AirResources)
The CTP, unveiled in July 2023, saw members of the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association commit to meeting California’s vehicle standards while the Golden State agreed to relax nitrogen oxide standards.
Trucking stakeholders, including American Trucking Associations, immediately slammed the deal’s terms as unrealistic.
Prior to the deal, truck makers sued CARB over the timeline for implementing its emissions standards. The suit was withdrawn in August 2022.
Now, DTNA — parent company of Freightliner and Western Star — is warning that Congress’ recent Congressional Review Act action essentially nixes the partnership; CARB’s changes to the ACT won’t increase truck availability and will penalize heavy-duty truck makers; and ignore the issue of federal pre-emption.
In a comment filed July 14 in response to the proposed changes, Portland, Ore.-based DTNA argued California cannot support the level of ZEVs the agency headed by wants to see in Classes 4-8 trucks and Class 7-8 tractors.
California Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph. (Mindy Long for Transport Topics)
“DTNA believes this proposed change is an attempt to avoid the reality that California’s ZEV demand cannot support the level of CARB’s ZEV requirements,” it wrote.
The requirements would lead to an unhealthy heavy-duty truck market, it added, noting that one in 10 tractor sales will have to be ZEVs by 2026 and one in three by 2030.
Truck makers agreed to keep to the terms of the CTP no matter the impacts of any future litigation, but DTNA argues that because Congress shifted the goal posts via the CRA, OEMs are not bound by CTP.
The credit pooling alteration is a nonstarter because states that previously opted in to California regulations could no longer do so, the largest truck maker in the U.S. added.
This was a resounding victory for America's truckers, consumers, and common sense. Thank you for your strong support, ! — American Trucking (@TRUCKINGdotORG)
On May 22, Congress voided the federal pre-emption waiver EPA previously issued for CARB’s ACT regulations through the CRA, a mandate that President Donald Trump signed into law June 12.
California was already having a tough time meeting the pace of battery-electric truck adoption needed to meet its ZEV goals, but DTNA argues developments in 2025 are widening the shortfall.
“Despite the substantial effort to sell ZEVs in California, the demand for [medium- and heavy-duty] ZEVs has not developed sufficiently to match the percentages in the ACT. The single biggest factor inhibiting sales is a complete lack of adequate charging infrastructure to support commercial ZEVs,” it wrote.
Obstacles to Adoption
“Construction and permitting delays continue to bog down site development in California, as acknowledged by the extensions granted to fleets in the Advanced Clean Fleets regulation, but not granted to manufacturers in the ACT,” it added.
DTNA also blasted expected electricity price increases by California’s largest two utilities, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric.
In a separate July 14 filing, TMA warned that CARB’s pooling option was a moot exercise and called out the agency for failing to engage with its members.
Despite the truck makers’ reservations, CARB adopted the changes.
But demand for battery-electric and other alternative fuel trucks has been underwhelming across the U.S., with DTNA citing the pace of adoption as one of the factors for 2,000 production facility layoffs in July.
Freightliner sells two battery-electric trucks — the eCascadia tractor and eM2 medium-duty truck.
Plant Layoffs
Among the layoffs are staff at the company’s Portland, Ore., manufacturing plant. The Portland plant builds eCascadias and eM2s as well as Western Star’s X-Series lineup.
Stakeholders have taken note of DTNA’s disenchantment, with 17 groups on Aug. 4 plus its peers that exiting the CTP would hurt the trucking industry.
The groups argue that abandoning the partnership would jeopardize fuel and maintenance savings and harm carriers that have already invested in ZEVs.
“Backing out of the [CTP] is a betrayal of public health, small businesses and the future of American trucking. We need bold action — not backpedaling,” Guillermo Ortiz, the Natural Resources Defense Council’s senior clean vehicles advocate, said in a statement issued by the groups.
Regulatory Rollback Applauded
DTNA, meanwhile, also gave federal government plans to undo high-profile tailpipe emissions regulations the thumbs-up.
In late July, the Trump administration formally proposed scrapping the federal government’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases as an air pollutant by rolling back a landmark 2009 determination known as the endangerment finding.
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