EPA should adopt protective greenhouse gas standards for trucks and buses

Clean truck standards help ensure that our nation's fleet of heavy-duty trucks and buses use dramatically less fuel, cut climate and other harmful pollution, and save both truckers and consumers money

The Environmental Protection Agency is poised to finalize new standards that will set limits on climate pollution from heavy-duty vehicles. These new standards will apply to freight trucks, buses and tractors, and will consider the crucial role that zero-emitting vehicles can play in reducing pollution.

The standards are eminently feasible thanks to historic investments from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, manufacturer commitments to levels of new ZEV deployment that exceed EPA’s projections, and ongoing adoption of California’s Advanced Clean Trucks rule by states.

One year after the passage of the IRA, a report by EDF finds that the U.S. market for electric vehicles has continued to race ahead and shows no sign of slowing down. Findings from the report show that manufacturers have announced more than $165 billion in concrete investment in U.S. EV and EV battery manufacturing facilities in the last eight years. More than half of that (56%) in the last year, since IRA passage. Manufacturers have announced more than 179,000 new direct U.S. EV-related jobs in the same period, and the announced investments are expected to create more than 800,000 additional jobs in the broader economy.

Societal benefits of EPA’s heavy-duty standards

According to EPA, the proposed standards are expected to reduce emissions of smog and soot forming pollutants by: 650 tons of particulate matter, 72,000 tons of nitrogen oxides and 21,000 tons of volatile organic compounds, compared to 2055 levels without the proposal.

  • Society would realize approximately $87 billion in climate benefits and up to $29 billion in avoided health costs.
  • Heavy-duty vehicle purchasers would see approximately $250 billion in savings associated with less fuel used and less vehicle maintenance and repairs needed for ZEV trucks through 2055.
  • Manufacturing cleaner trucks is an economic opportunity to support jobs and make more efficient vehicles while reducing harmful pollution.

Manufacturers and fleets are committed to ZEVs

Momentum for the transition to ZEVs is quickly building in the medium- and heavy-duty sector. Manufacturers are committing to a zero-emission future and investing billions of dollars to bring ZEVs to market.

  • Ford expects 50% of its global vehicle volume and 100% of its European vehicle volume to be fully electric by 2030 – this will be reached by producing 2 million EVs annually.
  • Daimler announced a target that all new trucks and buses in North America will be carbon neutral by 2039 and has allocated $85 billion toward the goal.
  • Stellantis aims for 100% of sales in Europe and 50% in the U.S. to be entirely from battery-electric vehicles.
  • Volvo, owner of Mack Trucks, has said it aims to have 100% of its new truck and bus sales be fossil free by 2030.
  • General Motors, which announced plans to eliminate tailpipe pollution from its passenger cars by 2035, plans to sell ZEV versions of all HD trucks by 2035.
  • Navistar is investing $275 million in a San Antonio plant that will produce diesel and electric trucks, supporting 650 new jobs.
  • Honda has committed to being carbon neutral by 2050 through electrifying its vehicle fleet and 100% ZEV sales by 2040 in North America.

Shippers and trucking fleets across the country are also embracing ZEV trucks. EDF has created an Electric Fleet Deployment and Commitment List to track their deployments and commitments. A few examples include:

  • Walmart is targeting zero global operational emissions by 2040, including electrifying all long-haul trucks. It has ordered 5,000 BrightDrop electric vehicles.
  • FedEx has pledged a 100% electric pick-up and delivery fleet and carbon-neutral operations by 2040.
  • Amazon has ordered more than 100,000 electric delivery trucks from Rivian.
  • FedEx has reserved 2,000 GM BrightDrop cargo vans with plans to add up to 20,000 more.
  • Merchant Fleet expanded its order of BrightDrop electric vehicles to 18,000.

Resources

Comments

Analysis

Fact sheets

  • February 2022: Clean Trucks, Clean Air, American Jobs: Summary of health burden of dirty trucks, the health and economic benefits of transition to ZEV trucks, fleet and manufacturer commitments to ZEVs, current deployments, and states taking the lead.
  • February 2022: Electric Fleet Deployment and Commitment List: Fact Sheet. EDF generated Google sheet that will be updated periodically to reflect the latest medium- and heavy-duty fleet deployment and commitment numbers.

Studies

Blogs and Blog Posts

News Releases

  • August 2016: EDF Applauds Pollution Standards for Cleaner Freight Trucks 

Reports

Date updated: December 5, 2023

Sources
  1. This target is cost effective and has broad support from EDF and other key stakeholders.