As states around the country, including California itself, take a long, hard look at the practical applications of the California Air Resource Board's Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule, some are beginning to back away from the ambitious suite of creeping sales mandates for "zero-emissions" trucks. New York represents latest state to consider dropping or delaying its adoption of the ACT, which was set to go into effect on January 1.
The Advanced Clean Trucks rule requires manufacturers of vehicles greater than 8,500 pounds to sell an increasing number of zero-emission vehicles in New York, starting with a 7% ZEV sales percentage in 2025 and ramping up, eventually, to 100% ZEV by 2045.
One month into 2025, according to Zach Miller, Trucking Association of New York’s VP of government affairs, and ACT just isn't finding any traction. For the state's lawmakers, the question now is "do we delay the sell side mandate a couple of years?" said Miller. "That would hopefully allow the state to really build out more charging infrastructure."
On Monday, the New York State Thruway Authority, which covers all of I-90, most of I-87 and other vital trucking corridors in the state, said there were "no Medium or Heavy-duty chargers on its system."
"The fact is that we don’t have charging, and with this mandate in place, fleets are forced to keep older vehicles on the street longer instead of cycling them out," said Miller. "We got to the point in the last couple quarters of 2024 that dealers are not able to place orders to manufacturers and fleets are not able to place orders with dealers," a dynamic that has been reported in California where the CARB ACT originated.
[Related: California dealers struggle to withstand CARB's sales regulations, offer warning to opt-in states]
"I think from the electeds' perspective," Miller added, "they're hearing from the dealers that are impacted that they do not have equipment to sell."
Miller said TANY hoped his state would delay the rule at least two years, noting that the state had exempted itself from complying with the rule with regard to snow plows and other equipment "but would not extend the same courtesy to the private fleets."
However, the ACT's complicated system of credits, allowing manufacturers to offset future diesel sales by selling ZEVs now, would put industry a step behind after a delay. "When enforcement hits, it's going to hit really hard," said Miller, who added New York's legislators were slowly starting to get the picture that electric trucks weren't ready for even 7% of a manufacturer's sales mix in 2025.
[Related: CARB backs away from ACF emissions rule, withdrawing EPA waiver request]
"We have members who are construction and there isn’t a manufacturer that could spec them in an EV," said Miller. "Even if they said 'you know what I want to try EV,'" there isn't one on the market for applications like cement mixers or gravel trucks, which already run heavy and hilly routes that haven't proven welcoming for big EV batteries.
"Not to say [the ACT] will never work, but we very well might not have a realistic timeline in place for this, and the market is starting to bear that out," he said. TANY has also heard from lawmakers that school districts can't find or charge electric school buses, and that generally they're hearing from all sides the ACT is a no-go.
Overall, Miller remained optimistic that government and industry could find a sustainable path forward, perhaps through renewable diesel, that times were changing. "I think we’d all be naive if we didn’t acknowledge that an election changed calculations," said Miller.
CARB's withdrawal of its application for an EPA wavier for its ACT-companion Advanced Clean Fleets rule, as a new EPA chief takes charge, also seems to acknowledge a turning tide.
"We have been raising this issue for a while and we've have had some really productive conversations over the last year well before the election," Miller said, "but it takes time for people to understand."
For now, it seems like New York's ACT might go the way of the 53' foot trailer ban -- unenforced.
[Related: Oregon adoption of CARB clean trucks rule under fire]
