CARB holds another workshop on Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulation
13 February 2023
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) held today another public workshop on the development of the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulation. The workshop was a follow-up to the first Board hearing held on October 27, 2022, when the Board directed its staff to make modifications to the proposed ACF regulation. The modified preliminary regulation language is now available from the CARB website.
The goal of the ACF regulation is to accelerate the number of medium and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) purchases to achieve a ZEV truck and bus fleet in California by 2045 “everywhere feasible”. In 2020, CARB adopted the Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) regulation that imposes a ZEV sales percentage schedule on truck manufacturers. The ACF regulation is designed to ensure that the ZEV trucks mandated under the ACT rule are actually purchased by California fleets.
ZEVs are defined as vehicles with zero exhaust emissions of criteria pollutants and greenhouse gases such as battery electric vehicles or H2 fuel-cell vehicles. The ACT/ACF regulations do not consider lifecycle emission effects for the vehicles and their fuels or non-exhaust emissions (such as brake and tire wear particles).
The ACF regulation includes four key components:
- 100 Percent ZEV Requirement—Starting from 2036, all Class 2b-8 vehicles sold in California must be ZEVs (except for authorized emergency vehicles). This requirement has been advanced by four years, from 2040, compared to the prior, August 30,2022 version of the ACF regulation.
- Drayage Trucks—From 2024, all newly added drayage trucks must be ZEVs. From 2035, all drayage trucks in use in California must be ZEVs.
- High Priority Fleets—From 2024, all newly added trucks must be ZEVs. From 2025, internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles must be removed from the fleet once they exceed a useful life period of 18 years (18 years/800,000 for tractors). Affected ‘high priority’ fleets include fleets with $50 million or more of annual revenue; fleets of 50 or more trucks; and federal government agency fleets.
- State and Local Government Fleets—In 2024-2026, 50% of purchases must be ZEV or NZEV (i.e., hybrids with a minimum all-electric range). Starting from 2027, all purchase must be ZEV or NZEV.
A ZEV Milestone Phase-In schedule is available to High Priority and to State and Local Government fleets as an alternative compliance option. Under this approach, fleets must meet ZEV Milestones as a percentage of total fleet. The program includes flexibilities to add new ICE vehicles that are California certified to the fleet, and to add used ICE vehicles with 2010 or newer model year.
| ZEV Fleet Percentage | 10% | 25% | 50% | 75% | 100% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1: Box trucks, vans, 2-axle buses, yard trucks, light-duty package delivery vehicles | 2025 | 2028 | 2031 | 2033 | 2035 |
| Group 2: Work trucks, day cab tractors, 3-axle buses | 2027 | 2030 | 2033 | 2036 | 2039 |
| Group 3: Sleeper cab tractors and specialty vehicles | 2030 | 2033 | 2036 | 2039 | 2042 |
The proposed regulation includes a large number of exemptions and extensions that account for such unknowns as a lack of availability of suitable ZEV vehicles or inadequate electric vehicle charging and/or H2 fueling infrastructure (see also our summary of July 2022).
A 15-day change package is to be released for comments in March. A second Board hearing on the ACF regulation is scheduled for April 27-28, 2023.
Source: CARB Advanced Clean Fleets