As the calendar gets set to flip to the new year, a new rule regarding EV trucks is set to take effect in New Jersey as well as several other states.

Beginning with model year 2025, Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulations are set to commence here in the Garden State. ACT requires zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) to represent a certain percentage of sales of new medium and heavy-duty trucks. Every year, that percentage increases through model year 2035.

In the leadup, a slew of transportation and business organizations – and lawmakers – are calling for a delay in implementation.

Bipartisan legislation to pause ACT’s start until at least Jan. 1, 2027, was introduced in the Assembly (Assembly Bill 4967) and Senate (S3817). Earlier this month, the Assembly bill advanced through the Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee.

“We are rapidly approaching the day of reckoning if this bill does not become law, or if alterations are not made to the Advanced Clean Truck rule by Jan. 1,” said New Jersey Business & Industry Association Deputy Chief Government Affairs Officer Ray Cantor Dec. 12. “As we forecasted when the rule was originally proposed, the demand, affordability, and feasibility for the purchase of electric trucks in such a compressed time frame isn’t there for many businesses.”

“Forcing dealers to sell only battery-powered commercial trucks in just three weeks when we do not have the infrastructure or the demand is a death wish for New Jersey’s small and medium-sized businesses and the state’s economy,” said Assemblyman Michael Inganamort, R-24th District, Dec. 12 when the bill advanced. “These regulations – copied word from word from California law – simply don’t work in New Jersey.”

Alternate route?

“Today, the Assembly Transportation unanimously released A4967 which delays EV regulations set to take effect Jan. 1, 2025,” said Eric DeGesero, lobbyist for the New Jersey Motor Truck Association, and Laura Perrotta, president of NJ Coalition of Automotive Retailers, in a Dec. 12 statement. “EV trucks are 3x more expensive and there is no changing infrastructure available. A cross-section of the NJ economy – industry and labor as well as small business owners – highlighted the negative impact these regulations will have on jobs and how they will increase inflation, which is on the uptick. Thank you to Chairman (Clinton) Calabrese (D-36th District, bill sponsor) and the entire Assembly Transportation Committee for their stand for affordability.”

On Dec. 18, transportation organizations from eight states (Colorado, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington), including the New Jersey Motor Truck Association, wrote a letter to their respective governors again asking for the delay of the implementation of the ACT rules. Effective dates range from the beginning of 2025 and 2027 in these particular states.

“In your letter to the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association on November 8, 2024, you cite the important role ACT plays in our states’ plans to achieve our greenhouse gas emissions-reduction goals and the threat of climate change,” the letter reads. “To be clear, we fully support these goals, and the trucking industry has worked collaboratively with government partners across the country for years to reduce the emissions from heavy-duty trucks. In fact, 60 trucks today equal the output of one in 1988, and, since the implementation of clean diesel technology in 1974, pollutants have been reduced by 99 percent. These reductions are in part due to the trucking industry’s partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) SmartWay program.”

Moving ahead

The stakeholders say the damage to the industry from implementing the rules on this current timeline would curtail these efforts. They noted an ensuring limited availability of clean diesel trucks will limit options, keeping older, heavier polluting trucks on the road.

“It will also lead to the inevitable loss in jobs and businesses. Rather, we encourage your states to look at an alternative approach, similar to the SmartWay program, which is a voluntary program with a proven record of success and widely supported by the industry,” the letter continues. “We are asking that the ACT date for implementation be deferred in order to ensure that our dealers and trucking companies are not unduly harmed, and to provide for an opportunity to work together to find a solution that works toward our state’s environmental goals.”

“We simply do not have the infrastructure in place for such a dramatic change in our trucking and logistics systems, and seven other states are in a similar position,’ said DeGesero. “If the ACT regulations are not delayed, we will see a disastrous impact on our American economy that will result in higher prices, job losses, shipping delays across the country.”

“While the Governor’s Office does not comment on pending legislation, we remain committed to the implementation of Advanced Clean Trucks on its current timeline,” a spokesperson for Gov. Phil Murphy told NJBIZ.