Could Industry and Political Pushback Kill the EPA’s Electric Truck Plans?

It’s a well-established fact that the Biden administration thinks that electric vehicles are the solution to everything. (Ring around the collar? Buy an EV. Troubles in the bedroom? Buy an EV. Thinning hair? You get the picture.) So it shouldn’t surprise any of us that the administration has decided that what the trucking industry needs most is a great big transition to electric trucks.

Last month, we reported about how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking to follow California’s lead in declaring war on diesel vehicles. At the time, many in the trucking industry expressed their dismay at the EPA allowing California to hold the rest of the country hostage regarding overblown climate concerns.

“By granting California’s waiver for its so-called ‘advanced clean trucks’ rule, the EPA is handing over the keys as a national regulator,” Chris Spear, CEO of the American Trucking Associations, said at the time. “This isn’t the United States of California, and in order to mollify a never satisfied fringe environmental lobby by allowing the state to proceed with these technologically infeasible rules on unworkable and unrealistic timelines, the EPA is sowing the ground for a future supply chain crisis.”

The EPA proposal includes more stringent regulations on trucks beginning with the 2027 model year, even more regulations beginning in 2028, and tightening those regulations even more beginning in 2032. And, of course, the agency wants all new trucks to be zero-emission vehicles (in other words, battery-powered) starting in 2045.

The trucking industry and outlets that cover logistics have been quick to decry the EPA’s proposal. Freightwaves pointed out how detrimental the electric truck mandate could be for the industry.

“Cost has been emphasized as a big impediment. A new all-electric costs over $400,000 today, versus a new diesel truck in the $150,000 range,” notes the FreightWaves report. “In addition, charging times are too long, which eats into federal hours of service rules. The batteries weigh a lot — which puts early adopters at a disadvantage with other carriers in the amount of cargo they can haul and still be in compliance with highway weight limits.”

Naturally, trucking companies and suppliers would pass on those additional costs to consumers, and the weight limits and long charging times could put even more strain on the supply chain. Another one of the most crucial factors is that some states are already having trouble with their electric grids keeping up with the strain of more electric passenger vehicles. What would a switch to electric trucks do to these power grids? What would the switch do to drivers?

“I’m intrigued by a lot of technology, and I’m not opposed to the move toward electric vehicles,” Joe Rajkovacz, director of governmental affairs for the Western States Trucking Association told FreightWaves. “But to make a mandate on a truck buyer that will potentially leave him stranded on the road because there’s not enough juice in the grid to power his vehicle doesn’t make sense.”

GOP lawmakers and conservative activists have made their concerns known, too:

Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas and chair of the House Oversight Committee’s subcommittee on energy policy and regulatory affairs, stated during a May 17 hearing that “Republicans are not anti-EV. They are however deeply concerned by the Biden administration’s apparent attempt to hijack the auto industry, strangle consumer choice, and determine what products are best for the American people in setting timelines.”

At the same hearing, Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., pointed out that last year the U.S. Supreme Court “slapped EPA down” in West Virginia v. EPA for overstepping its authority in regulating power plants. “Isn’t EPA doing the exact same thing with these proposed EV rules?”

Steve Bradbury of the Heritage Foundation replied that the EPA’s plans to regulate trucking are “remarkably similar” to the overreach that led to the Supreme Court ruling, adding that “At issue are matters of life, liberty, and prosperity, and they are fundamentally political in nature. That is exactly why, under our constitutional republic, it is for Congress, and Congress alone, to make the monumental decisions that EPA is purporting to take upon itself in these proposed rules.”

Democrats reply that the administration’s handouts and tax breaks are sufficient to help the trucking industry transfer over to electric trucks — because the Democrats think handouts solve everything. Is this pressure from the GOP and the industry enough to put the brakes on the proposal? We can be sure that they’ll give it their best shot.