The California Air Resources Board (CARB) withdrew its request with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a waiver to implement its Advanced Clean Fleet (ACF) rule.
ACF had been “on hold” for the past year because CARB realized in November 2023 they did not have the requisite waiver to legally implement the rule effective January 1, 2024. While the rule was unenforceable, CARB reserved the right to do so retroactively.
As a quick refresher, ACF created a mandated timeline for the transition to zero emission trucks (ZEV), starting with drayage trucks. Any new drayage truck entered into the CARB database effective January 1, 2024 was to be ZEV. Any grandfathered trucks in the database would be allowed to remain in service for 13 years or 800,000 miles, which ever came first.
CARB knew their waiver would not be granted in the Trump Administration, which would have been a black eye for the agency. Additionally, there were issues with the aggressive timeline and the lack of infrastructure.
CARB’s Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) rule is still on the books, which creates a sell mandate where truck manufacturers and dealers are required to sell an increasing number of ZEV trucks in order to sell any diesel trucks. The general consensus is without the buy requirement of the ACF, the ACT rule will have to be amended.
While this is a win for the industry, we cannot rest on our laurels. CARB is relentless in their pursuit of a ZEV truck future in the near term. If ACF is not the way to accomplish it, they will come up with another avenue. Indirect Source Rules (ISR) will likely be the path. Think the Warehouse Actions & Investments to Reduce Emissions (WAIRE) program in Southern California, which holds the warehouse provider responsible to reduce emissions of the goods movement activity at their facility.