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How This New California Rule May Affect Your Business

By April 25, 2023No Comments
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Do you have a fleet of over 10 vehicles & have a business that resides in California? Because if so, California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) is proposing a new “Advanced Clean Fleets” rule that may come into effect sooner than later. Find out how this may affect your business & what precisely this new proposal means. 

What Exactly is the “Advanced Clean Fleets” Rule? 

When this new regulation was introduced, CARB announced it would only affect fleets with 50 or more trucks in their fleet. But with the latest update on the regulation, CARB board members have decided to lower the fleet requirement from 50 to 10. Small to medium business owners are disheartened due to their inability to have a say in the matter. There has also been no economic or staff analysis on the availability of thousands & thousands of trucks needed to meet California Air Resources Board’s requirement as of yet. 

Problem With an All-Electric Fleet 

For industries that use their trucks/fleets for maintenance, delivery, and supervisory staff, this can be problematic due to the lack of charging stations in remote locations. In addition, those who travel a lot of miles daily have to deal with charging wait times and the hassle of being unable to charge every night at headquarters. Construction companies have been committed to spending billions of dollars on portable equipment & off-road fleets since the dawn of the industry. This new regulation promotes unwarranted change. That means that CARB would enforce that all machines & construction equipment meet established deadlines to meet their near-zero emission requirements. This will affect many companies that will be pushed to shrink their fleets due to the cost of new electric excavators, scrapers, etc. 

When Could This Be Implemented? 

Implementation, according to PG&E, would start as soon as sometime this year. California’s Air Resources Board’s goal is to have a zero-emission truck & bus fleet everywhere possible by 2045. But specific markets, such as drayage applications, last-mile delivery, etc., would see significantly earlier changes to their fleets. They are targeting high-priority fleets with vehicles that are eligible for early electrification, their subhaulers, and the parties that hire them. 

In Conclusion 

If you are interested in shaping & developing the “Advanced Clean Fleets” rule, here is how to get involved. You can visit any of CARB’s scheduled activities, meetings, and events. You can sign petitions to oppose this new rule, such as the one provided by CIAQC (Construction Industry Air Quality Coalition) at the bottom of this article.

PG&E Article Link 

Petition Link 

CARB Rule Announcement Link

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