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Oregon environmental regulators have approved rules that will temporarily delay the state’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions from medium- and heavy-duty trucks, which are typically used for commercial purposes and for long-haul transportation. But trucking advocates are calling for a longer delay of the rules, saying the technology for these types of zero-emissions vehicles as well as the infrastructure needed to charge them are not widely available yet for the state.
Last week, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s commission adopted temporary Clean Truck Rules that will go into effect in January. The rules are set to be updated to align with California’s vehicle and truck emission standards. Oregon is one of 10 states that have opted to adopt California’s standards for these vehicles and must be aligned with California’s standards.
The updated versions of the rules will delay when stricter standards for medium and heavy-duty trucks go into effect and will introduce more flexibility and time for manufacturers to sell these vehicles.
“These rules are really critical to helping the state achieve its greenhouse gas reduction goals and also just bring more health benefits to Oregonians.” DEQ’s transportation strategy section manager Rachel Sakata said. “When you replace a diesel vehicle with a zero-emission vehicle, you have no emissions coming out of the tailpipe which is significant.”
Oregon efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the state’s largest contributor are temporarily on hold, as the state works to align the rules with California as well as providing flexibility as a limited number of zero-emission trucks are currently available for purchase. According to DEQ, the transportation sector accounts for 35% of the state’s total greenhouse gas emissions. The rules, once in place, would compliment other state policies in helping reduce those emissions. But trucking advocates say the rules are premature to mandate, especially as the technology has not advanced far enough within the industry.
Temporary Clean Truck Rules
Under the Clean Trucks Rules, the Heavy-Duty Low NOx Omnibus Rules require truck engine manufacturers to meet tougher emission standards for particulate matter and for nitrogen oxides pollution, or the combustion of fossil fuels in vehicles. They were originally set to start in 2025.
Sakata said those rules are being delayed for a few reasons, including the limited number of medium- to heavy-duty engines available that qualify under those emissions standards.
“We’ve been talking with the manufacturers, and we understand that there’s going to be very few compliant engines available in the market in 2025,” Sakata said. “What that means is that manufacturers are not offering any new vehicles for sale because they have very few of those engines available.”
Those rules are now set to start in 2026.
According to DEQ, the delay will provide manufacturers more time to develop engines that will meet with the requirements under the rules.
Under the Advanced Clean Truck Rules, manufacturers of medium to heavy-duty vehicles, like large pick-up trucks, buses and 18-wheelers, are required to sell a certain percentage of zero emissions electric vehicles starting with the 2025 model year.
For example, truck and van manufacturers would need at least 7% of their sales to be zero emissions vehicles. By 2035, those sales need to reach at least 55% of zero emissions vehicles sold.
Medium and heavy-duty manufacturers will now have three years instead of one to sell a certain percentage, starting with 2025 model years, allowing more flexibility to comply with the rule.
“This rule extends that out until 2028,” DEQ’s Rachel Sakata said. “So, gives them two additional years to kind of make up for any shortfall.”
Sakata said some manufacturers may not be developing these types of vehicles now but could do so within the next few years. Extending the compliance period gives those manufacturers more time to comply.
While the rules require manufacturers to sell between 7% to 11% of their trucks as zero emission vehicles, the rules do not prohibit them from selling diesel vehicles, Sakata said.
“They can still continue to sell as many diesel vehicles as they want,” she said. “They just have to make sure that they do sell a certain percentage of zero emission vehicles.”
Extending the delay
According to DEQ, in 2023 there were 13,275 medium-to-heavy-duty vehicles sold in the state. More than 1,730 of those medium and heavy-duty sales were zero emission trucks. The agency expects those numbers to increase in 2024.,
But Oregon Trucking Association President Jana Jarvis said she was informed there were fewer than ten, 18-wheeler zero emission trucks sold in the state in 2023.
Jarvis said she would have liked to have seen both rules further delayed to give the industry more time to catch up with the new technology, including by offering a greater variety of medium and heavy duty zero emission trucks as well as more publicly available chargers.
Jarvis said one of her members switched to a zero emissions truck to transport products for a distance of about 200 miles. But that truck died on the road.
“It died on the Siskiyou Pass,” she said. “They just simply couldn’t make it work in their operations, and most over the road drivers are going to drive 500 to 600 miles a day, so if you have to stop every 150 to 200 miles and spend two to three hours charging, you’re not going to get much productivity out of it.”
At the moment, Jarvis said, the trucks are not meeting the industry’s needs.
“They don’t haul as much product, they cost three times as much and they only go a couple hundred miles and there is only one public charging station in the entire state. So there’s just no infrastructure to support the transition to zero emission vehicles today in Oregon.”
Jarvis worries that the rules will make people hold on to their trucks longer instead of buying a zero emission truck.
State Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, has also called for a delay of both rules. She said the commission should delay the Heavy-Duty Low NOx Omnibus Rules until 2027, when the federal government’s standard goes into effect.
Earlier this month, Boshart Davis sent a letter to the commission saying requiring Oregonians to purchase zero-emission vehicles will harm those who cannot afford to make the purchase.
“Given the lack of technological advancements and infrastructure necessary to support this transition, I believe that the implementation of these rules, while well-intentioned, will actually slow the reduction of emissions from the transportation sector while harming local industries and communities who rely on trucks to keep Oregon’s economy moving,” she said in an emailed statement.
Boshart Davis said not delaying the start of the Advanced Clean Truck rules will result in “very few, if any new truck sales” across the state.
“With only one commercial charging station in our state, the limited range of battery-electric trucks, their additional cost, and the reduction in load capacity due to the added weight of the batteries, it is premature to mandate purchase of equipment that is not technically or financially viable,” she said in an emailed statement Wednesday. “My hope is that the Environmental Quality Commission will recognize these challenges, and delay implementation.”
The temporary rules, and their limited delay, will be in effect starting January 1. DEQ will have six months to develop permanent rules that will include public engagement, a rules advisory committee and input from medium and heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers.
