The Biden administration recently approved a California plan to require half of all heavy trucks sold in the state by 2035, including tractor-trailers, to be electric, which goes beyond federal requirements. Similar legislation passed by the state last year requires all new passenger vehicles sold in the state to be electric by the same date.
According to a recent article in The New York Times, the two moves put California at the forefront of the race to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from transportation. However, some believe the mandate around heavy trucks in particular will be nearly impossible to meet since fewer than 2% of such vehicles sold in the U.S. last year were all-electric. Nonetheless, six other states have already adopted truck rules modeled after California’s, though they await approval by the federal government.
