Truck manufacturers challenge the EPA's carbon emissions rule
Source: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-makers-take-on-epas-zero-emissions-carbon-rule
Author: John Gallagher
Truck manufacturers are pushing back hard against the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to drastically cut carbon emissions from heavy trucks beginning in model year 2028.
While fully electric, zero-emission trucks are already on the roads, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) maintain that the biggest impediment to the EPA’s rule seeking aggressive adoption for the trucking industry is a lack of infrastructure to support it.“We fully support that goal, demonstrated by the billions of dollars already invested by our members to develop and bring to market zero-emission power trains and vehicles,” said Jed Mandel, president of the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA), during EPA’s first public hearing on its proposal on May 2, 2023
However, “without electricity recharging and hydrogen refueling infrastructures in place, our customers are not likely to make the needed investment to purchase the zero-emission vehicles that EMA members put out for sale,” Mandel said. “We cannot afford a scenario where manufacturers must sell zero-emission vehicles but fleets won’t purchase them because there’s no infrastructure in place to operate them. That is a recipe for disaster.”
The EPA’s new greenhouse gas standards for heavy trucks would begin in model year (MY) 2028 and extend to MY 2032, and would govern a range of truck sizes from delivery trucks and dump trucks to freight-hauling day-cab and sleeper-cab trucks.