By Tracy Hernandez |
PUBLISHED: April 23, 2023, at 7:00 a.m. | UPDATED: April 23, 2023, at 7:01 a.m.
You hit the “buy” button and expect the items in your cart — clothes, home goods, work supplies, food, medicine — to arrive within days. Have you thought about the people and vehicles responsible for delivering those essential goods to your doorstep? Hardworking truck drivers seem to be an afterthought for California regulators fixated on irrationally slashing emissions with first-in-nation mandates.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is poised to vote on a rule that would phase out the trucking fleet we depend on in favor of “zero-emission” trucks that cost approximately $400,000 per vehicle. That’s twice the price of fuel-efficient trucks on the market today.
The zero-emission trucks also require charging infrastructure that vastly exceeds the present and projected realities of California’s power grid. Gov. Gavin Newsom told Californians not to charge electric vehicles during certain days and times last fall due to the threat of a “brown out.” That’s the reality this CARB proposal is setting us up for.
Have you thought about how you would respond to an employee or colleague telling you, “I can’t make it to work because I can’t charge my car right now” or an e-commerce company telling you, “We can’t deliver your order on time because our trucks can’t charge right now”? Don’t let these concerns be an afterthought.