California set to ban all heavy diesel trucks and vans by 2045

Enlarge / This is the Volvo VRN Electric, the company's first electric class-8 truck. (credit: Volvo)

The days of diesel delivery trucks and vans in California are numbered. On Thursday, the state's Air Resources Board adopted a new rule that will phase out these most polluting of vehicles from the state over the next quarter-century. Beginning in 2024, OEMs that want to sell medium- and heavy-duty trucks in the state will have to ensure that some of those trucks are zero emissions vehicles (ZEVs). Over time, the percentage of those ZEV trucks has to increase, so that by 2045, any new truck sold in the state will be emission-free. Currently, CARB estimates that 2 million diesel trucks and vans are the cause of 70 percent of smog-causing pollution in the state.

"California is an innovation juggernaut that is going electric. We are showing the world that we can move goods, grow our economy, and finally dump dirty diesel," said Jared Blumenfeld, California's secretary for Environmental Protection.

The new rule excludes light trucks (8,500lbs/3,855kg and under), so the new Ford F-150 doesn't count. But it does apply to pretty much anything bigger than that-class 2b (like a Ford F-250 for example) all the way through the biggest class 8 trucks and tractors. The mandate starts gently: in 2024, only 3 percent of class 2b and class 3 trucks, 7 percent of class 4 through 8 trucks, and 3 percent of class 7 and 8 tractors have to be emissions free. And in fact, for pickup trucks-ie trucks that came from the factory with a load bed rather than some other configuration-the class 2b-class 3 rule only kicks in during 2027.

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