After cars, emission standards for trucks have been tightened in the United States

Joe Biden’s administration continued its offensive on Friday to curb polluting emissions from the road transport sector, announcing new standards this time targeting trucks, after cars last week.

These measures, which aim to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles, should enable residents living particularly near highways to breathe cleaner air, while contributing to the government’s targets to reduce emissions reduce greenhouse gases.

The new standards were welcomed by environmental associations, but drew strong criticism from some organizations representing the industry.

Heavy trucks represent about 5% of vehicles on the road, but 25% of greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, itself the nation’s largest source of emissions.

The new regulations announced on Friday cover heavy-duty vehicles (trucks, buses, etc.) built between 2027 and 2032.

These are “the strongest national greenhouse gas emissions standards in history for heavy-duty trucks,” Michael Regan, head of the Protection Agency, said at an Environment Agency (EPA) news conference.

In concrete terms, it will be up to manufacturers to choose which technologies they use to achieve the set emission reduction targets: hybrid, rechargeable hybrid, electric or hydrogen vehicles.

Compared to the proposed standard that has been drafted and is now subject to public consultation as required, the final rules allow manufacturers more time to deploy these technologies in the early years.

But the “post-2030 target is completely unattainable given the current state of zero-emission technologies” and “the lack of charging infrastructure,” the American Trucking Associations (ATA) noted in a press release.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), which represents the oil sector, also pointed out “the significant uncertainties regarding the technological and infrastructure capabilities” needed to meet these standards. These “could jeopardize the speed and costs of freight transport,” the organization added.

“Cleaner air”

According to the EPA, the new standards should make it possible to avoid the emission of a billion tons of greenhouse gases.

“Heavy-duty trucks are essential for transporting goods and services across our country,” said Michael Regan. But “they also make a significant contribution to pollution from the transport sector, to emissions that fuel climate change and degrade air quality.”

According to the EPA, about 72 million people in the United States live near freight routes used by trucks, often people of color or those with low incomes.

The result of these new standards will be “cleaner air and better health,” says Paul Billings of the American Lung Association, which campaigns for the prevention of lung disease.

The EPA had previously announced that it had introduced new standards to address nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from trucks, specifically gases known to cause asthma and respiratory diseases.

Despite “fierce lobbying from the oil and road industries,” these new standards will “move things forward in electrifying our largest and most polluting vehicles,” welcomed Ben Jealous of the environmental group Sierra Club.

Electric trucks remain rare at the moment.

According to an analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund, about 13,000 have been put on the road in the United States since 2020, including 10,000 just last year, a recent and sharp increase, the organization underlines.

But this data must be compared to the total number of trucks, which is approximately 13 million, according to the American Trucking Associations.

The Biden administration is pushing to accelerate the electrification of vehicles, especially cars, by also encouraging the development of a network of charging stations.

He has promised the installation of at least 500,000 chargers by the end of this decade, but deployment remains slow. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, there are currently about 180,000 chargers in the country.