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CAPITOL recap
While a number of motor carriers are beginning to incorporate electric Class 8 tractors into their fleets, the vehicles are primarily used for drayage,
final-mile, and yard tractor applications.
Completely Electrifying the trucking
industry could take a ‘lifetime’
A number of battles in the global fight to clean up the air
are taking place in the trenches of the trucking industry.
Electric trucks are now a familiar sight on the sales lots,
with most manufacturers now producing electric or hybridelectric
models. Some major motor carriers, such as J.B.
Hunt, Walmart, and FedEx, have already begun incorporating
electric trucks into their fleets. At this point, electric trucks
are primarily used in final-mile, drayage, and yard tractor
applications.
As individual states, along with the federal government,
adopt stricter environmental laws targeting emissions, pressure
is mounting for the trucking industry to convert to electric
rigs.
But are electric trucks feasible for an industry that has,
for more than 100 years, relied on diesel fuel to power its
freight carriers?
“As an industry, we continually strive to make the environment
a better one for those that will inherit it,” said Dave
Heller, senior vice president of safety and government Affairs
for the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA). “The evidence
of the achievements our industry has already accomplished
has demonstrated exactly that.”
Heller says that as the trucking industry’s essential role in
the world’s economy continues to grow, its environmental
footprint continues to shrink.
“Truck engines manufactured today emit 98% less nitrogen
oxide and particulate matter than those built 35 years
ago,” he said. “In fact, it takes 60 of today’s trucks to emit
what just one truck emitted in 1988.
“The long-haul trucking sector has been developed based
upon centuries of technological advancements that have
gotten us to where we are today,” he continued. “It would be
irresponsible of us to think that a diesel replacement won’t
take just as long.”
Heller notes that states that are already adopting strict
environmental laws requiring new trucks to meet idealistic
environmental guidelines are not being realistic.
“The reality is that as aggressive as these timelines are,
we just are not there as a nation,” he said. “Electricity has
shown tremendous promise, but today, it cannot replace the
impact that the diesel engine has in serving the U.S. economy.
“A rush to replace it would serve as shortsighted and irresponsible,
at a time when the needs of the national freight
system are so paramount,” he continued.
For one thing, the nation’s power grid is not prepared to
handle widespread adoption of electric vehicles.
“It’s not news that our nation is not generating enough
electricity at this point to justify a changeover, nor are there
enough charging stations to accommodate that change,”
Heller said. “Creating a timeline that includes unrealistic
deadlines will only amount to more problems that the unintended
consequences of these kind of rules that almost
always follows them.”
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10 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024