Starting in January 2024, two groundbreaking regulations adopted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) will help bring more zero-emission heavy-duty trucks to California’s roadways. The Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule, approved in 2020, and the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) rule adopted in April 2023, both have provisions that commence next year to expand the availability of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles and require certain fleets to make these vehicles a part of their operations.
The ACT regulation requires manufacturers to sell an increasing percentage of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks starting in Model Year 2024. Manufacturers of Class 2b to Class 8 vehicles are required to sell zero-emission trucks as an increasing percentage of their annual California sales from 2024 to 2035. By 2035, 55 percent of Class 2b-3 sales, 75 percent of Class 4-8 truck sales, and 40 percent of truck tractor sales will need to be zero-emission.
The ACF regulation works in conjunction with the ACT rule to ensure that more zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles are brought to market. It has several distinct public, municipal, priority and drayage fleet purchase requirements, as well as a manufacturer sales requirement for 100 percent zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles starting in 2036. Starting in 2024, high priority and federal fleets following the model year schedule must purchase only zero-emission trucks. For state and local government fleets, 50 percent of new trucks purchased must be zero-emission. Drayage trucks must start transitioning to zero-emission technology so that 100 percent of trucks that operate at the ports are zero-emission by 2035. Starting on January 1, 2024, only zero-emission trucks will be allowed to register to conduct drayage activities at the ports.
There are more zero-emission heavy-duty vehicle options than ever before. Currently, more than 148 models in North America are available for order or pre-order, with 135 models actively being produced or delivered to customers. At least 35 manufacturers are producing Class 2b through Class 8 zero-emission trucks.
Working together, the ACT and ACF regulations are expected to put 510,000 medium- and heavy-duty trucks on the roads by 2035, 1.35 million by 2045, and 1.69 million by 2050. As trucks are the largest single source of air pollution from vehicles in the State, these rules will be integral to accelerating the transition to a cleaner fleet in California. The MSRC has already been supporting investments in zero-emission charging infrastructure at key freight hubs throughout Southern California and will continue to champion these investments.