Has California gone too far? The state has proposed a mandate to ban large commercial vehicles that don’t use electric power starting in 2036.
This could be a serious problem.
Its not a secret that California leads the charge to have lowered emissions and more vehicles sold with electrified powertrains. Many other states have adopted some of the state’s mandates, which could be detrimental to many commercial companies working to ship goods to locations around the state and other areas of the country. The widespread impact of such actions has led to the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) and the National Truck Equipment Association (NTEA) filing a lawsuit against these electric vehicle mandates.
What do these mandates specify?
The new mandates specify that medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks, including larger pickup trucks that weigh over 8,500 pounds, will switch to electric power starting in 2036. This means manufacturers must embrace this fuel source or forgo doing business in California. The strictness of the proposal even states that some vehicles that are purchased and registered in other states would be banned from entering the state.
While it seems like California legislators are putting their proverbial foot down, they might not have thought this one through. Hopefully, some of the potential issues with such a strict and relatively sudden mandate could have a detrimental negative impact on the state and the entire country.
What does this mean for good going in and out of the state?
Its easy to see the landscape, size, and population of California make it an extremely important state. This west coast state is one of the most prolific producers of goods in the entire country, which means other states rely one items from California. The same is true of the state itself. Its not a self-sustaining location and depends on products from other areas of the country.
How could this mandate work for California?
If we create a scenario in which an over-the-road trucking company changes to electric semi-trucks before entering California, we can see some serious problems. The original truck, likely powered by diesel, would have to dock outside of state lines and the trailer moved to an electric semi-truck. These docking locations would need to be close enough to the border that the electric truck doesn’t run out of battery power before reaching the destination.
The same would go for trucks leaving the state with goods for other areas of the country. The changing of trucks and use of additional trucks would create much higher transportation costs for the goods going in and out of California.
Why are SEMA and the NTEA suing the state?
These new electric vehicle mandates have the potential to hinder innovation, as the two plaintiffs claim. The requirement for commercial trucks to be powered only by electricity favors one type of powertrain technology over other solutions. This forces automakers to focus only on electricity, but hydrogen might be a much better solution. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can refill in a much shorter time than it takes to recharge electric vehicle batteries.
California legislators might need to rethink their stance and consider the possibility of other technologies being just as clean as electricity while being more suitable to the trucking industry.
California doesn’t take this hard line with passenger vehicles
The state has a mandate that begins in 2035, banning the sale of vehicles powered purely by gas engines. This doesn’t mean only electricity can be used, which seems to be a troubling point with the commercial vehicle mandate.
Consumers can drive PHEVs and buy new models as long as they provide at least 50 miles of EPA-rated electric driving range. Additionally, this mandate doesn’t ban people from driving their gas-powered vehicles or buying them used beyond this time. It also doesn’t ban people from other states from driving their gas-powered vehicles into California.
Who are SEMA and the NTEA representing?
SEMA and NTEA stated they filed this lawsuit on behalf of their members who own and operate fleets of vehicles. Typically, vehicle fleets are filled with large trucks, and these electric vehicle mandates will impact heavy-duty trucks, not just semi-trucks bringing goods into the state. This means large trucks used for various services around major cities will need to be electric models in only 11 years, which isn’t long at all.
Another challenge of this lawsuit is the lack of medium and heavy-duty trucks in the market that already use electricity to power them. It seems California leaders are trying to force automakers to build these big trucks with electric powertrains, without considering other alternatives. This means the lawsuit might have some merit.
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