Truck Stops, Fuel Marketers Respond to Heavy-Duty Greenhouse Gas Rule

NATSO, representing America’s travel plazas and truck stops, and SIGMA: America’s Leading Fuel Marketers, issued the following statement in response to the Biden Administration’s Heavy-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Regulations and Standards Final.

“We appreciate that the Biden Administration is working toward a more pragmatic approach to reducing carbon emissions from heavy-duty vehicles. Our industry shares this objective, and today’s Rule, coupled with the National Zero Emission Corridor Strategy, demonstrates that the Administration recognizes at least some of the impediments to private sector investment in heavy-duty electric vehicle charging.

“Unfortunately, today’s Final Rule represents only a modest improvement from the proposed rule. The Administration’s Final Rule does not adequately consider the challenges that fuel retailers face in transitioning to heavy-duty truck electrification. The Administration’s Final Rule also does not recognize the need to support lower carbon alternatives to diesel fuel that are currently commercially viable, such as biodiesel and renewable diesel.

“To support the full electrification of long-haul vehicles, fuel retailers will need to invest $57 billion to build out a sufficiently dense long-haul charging network, according to a recent study released by Roland Berger. 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.

“Off-highway refueling locations will need dozens of fast-chargers to service heavy-duty trucks. The charging capacity required at a single large truck stop would be roughly equivalent to the electric load of an entire small town. Considering that utilities will need to invest $320 billion to upgrade the nation’s power grid, we remain unconvinced that the electricity providers will be able to increase generation and transmission activity to service that kind of load at scale within ten years.

“Fuel retailers are at the forefront of investments in new refueling technologies and their necessary infrastructure. Fuel retailers are actively investing in many technologies that reduce carbon emissions from transportation fuels. Rather than focus on a single technology, they all should be supported at a level that is proportionate with their relative climate benefits and commercial viability.

“If the Administration is interested in decarbonizing heavy-duty trucking, the best course of action in the near term is to put forth strong incentives for renewable liquid fuels in conjunction with today’s GHG Rule. A single gallon of biodiesel reduces emissions by nearly 80 percent compared with diesel. Renewable diesel and biodiesel represent the best opportunity for reducing carbon emissions from the existing fleet of trucks for the foreseeable future.”