The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on March 29 issued its Phase 3 Greenhouse Gas Rule for Heavy-Duty Trucks. Under the Final Rule, 30 percent of heavy-duty trucks must be zero emission by 2032, along with 40 percent of short-haul day-cab trucks.
EPA issued the Final Rule just days after publishing its Final Greenhouse Gas Regulations and Standards for Light-Duty passenger cars and trucks.
Like the Light-Duty Rule, the Heavy-Duty Rule represented only a modest improvement from EPA’s initial proposal, despite significant concern from industry stakeholders.
NATSO thinks the Administration’s Final Rule does not adequately consider the challenges that fuel retailers face in transitioning to heavy-duty truck electrification and fails to adequately consider the need to support lower carbon alternatives to diesel fuel that are currently commercially viable, such as renewable diesel and biodiesel.
The Clean Freight Coalition, of which NATSO is a member, recently commissioned Roland Berger to evaluate the cost of transitioning commercial trucking to electric vehicles. The study pegged the total cost to electrify the nation’s fleet at nearly $1 trillion. Specifically, truck stops and travel centers will need to invest $57 billion to build out a sufficiently dense long-haul charging network.
To electrify all medium and heavy-duty vehicles, fleets and charge point operators will need to invest $620 billion into chargers, site infrastructure and utility service costs, according to the report.
Fuel retailers are actively investing in many technologies that reduce carbon emissions from transportation fuels. Rather than focus on a single technology, NATSO thinks they all should be supported at a level that is proportionate with their relative climate benefits and commercial viability.
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board recently criticized the rule saying the Administration is oppressing American businesses and consumers with a destructive regulation that will do nothing to reduce global temperatures.
“Replacing diesel trucks with electric will cost the industry tens of billion dollars each year. Truckers will pass on these costs to customers—meaning U.S. manufacturers and retailers—which will ultimately pass them on to Americans in higher prices,” the Editorial Board wrote. “This is President Biden’s trickle-down economics.”
Read NATSO’s statement to media on the Heavy-Duty Greenhouse Gas Phase 3 Rule.
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