California Air Resources Board
The day after: Speculation abounds on California trucking regulation with no ACF
California’s trucking industry spent Wednesday speculating about the future of its vehicle mix now that there will be no state mandate to buy zero-emission vehicles following the effective death of the Advanced Clean Fleets rule.
The ACF was killed for all intents and purposes by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) when it withdrew its waiver request under the Clean Air Act to the Environmental Protection Agency. If granted, the waiver would have allowed the regulation to move forward....
Battles over California’s Advanced Clean Trucks rule rage far beyond state line
With slightly tightened restrictions under the California Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule having gone into effect at the start of 2025 and the prospect of numerous states following the Golden State’s lead, the regulatory world has been awash in dueling communications on the subject.
On a microeconomic level, the ACT has led to the halting of some truck sales in Oregon. But a bigger battle is taking shape across multiple states.
Unlike its sister regulation, the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) rule,...
EPA OKs California’s tighter diesel NOx rule; can waiver survive under Trump?
The Environmental Protection Agency has granted a waiver to California to implement the state’s “Omnibus” regulation that tightens rules for nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from diesel engines.
The EPA also on Wednesday granted a waiver for the Advanced Clean Cars Rule II (ACC II), the second iteration of the state’s tighter emission standards governing automobiles. It is aimed at ceasing all sales of cars with internal combustion engines by 2035 and replacing them with zero-emission vehicles...
Of floor mops, M&M coatings … and battery packs
What do coatings for M&M chocolate candies, O-Cedar floor mops and battery packs for electric trucks have in common?
All three come from German industrial conglomerate Freudenberg Group. The company operates many other seemingly incongruous businesses from filtration to home cleaning products.
A history of handoffsFreudenberg’s battery business is an appropriate Truck Tech topic. But not as tasty than M&Ms, for which it makes the hard shell coatings through its Capol business unit.
The...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/of-floor-mops-mm-coatings-and-battery-packs
Co-founder wants TuSimple liquidated
TuSimple co-founder Xiaodi Hou has started a second autonomous trucking startup. But he is suing his former company, urging that TuSimple be liquidated and $450 million returned to shareholders, of whom he is the largest.
Suits on 3 coastsIn separate filings in courts in San Diego and Delaware, Hou claims his co-founder, Mo Chen, and CEO Cheng Lu are trying to move TuSimple’s $450 million to China. TuSimple moved its business there and has shifted its business from autonomous trucking to...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/co-founder-wants-tusimple-liquidated
Port of LA-Long Beach railroad wins grant for electric locomotives
Pacific Harbor Line (PHL) — together with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) — has received partial funding for five zero-emission locomotives.
The funding for the acquisition will be provided through a U.S. Department of Transportation Consolidated Rail Infrastructure & Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program grant.
PHL, which serves the Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach complex, is a short line of Anacostia Rail Holdings.
The grant comes after a year of testing the zero-exhaust emission EMD...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/port-of-la-long-beach-railroad-wins-grant-for-electric-locomotives
California’s forklifts were going zero-emission even before latest mandate
California is rolling out new rules to move toward a zero-emission fleet of forklifts, against the backdrop of an industry that is already moving in that direction.
The California Air Resources Board last month passed a final rule designed to phase out the use of large spark-ignited (LSI) forklifts. An LSI engine is one in which a spark is utilized to ignite a fuel, which in a large portion of the forklift world means propane. Propane has long been the preferred fuel for indoor forklifts given...
Sitetracker: Speeding electric truck charging behind the scenes
Announcements of new charging depots for electric trucks seem to come almost weekly. Some are more promises than ready-to-go power. Sitetracker, a SaaS business rooted in telecommunications, is providing a cloud-based backbone to move things along.
Sitetracker has been around since 2008. In four rounds of fundraising, it has brought in $183 million, including $66 million in a Series D round in 2022. The Montclair, New Jersey-based company has doubled its head count while seizing opportunities in...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/sitetracker-speeding-electric-truck-charging-behind-the-scenes
Railroads fear losing out to trucks if California gets its way
WASHINGTON — Major freight railroads and their short-line counterparts raised red flags on Capitol Hill about supply chain consequences of a California regulation aimed at cutting air pollution from locomotives.
If the California Air Resources Board is successful in securing approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California’s In-Use Locomotive Regulation, adopted by the state last year, would require all locomotives manufactured after 2035 that travel though the state of...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/railroads-fear-losing-out-to-trucks-if-california-gets-its-way