A state agency is moving forward with regulations to reduce the environmental impact of delivery vans, buses, pickup trucks and heavy-duty big rigs. While the regulations are expected to improve air quality and put more electric vehicles on Oregon’s roads, the state’s lack of charging infrastructure could pose an immediate challenge.
As part of Gov. Kate Brown’s executive orders to address climate change, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is advancing a pair of rules intended to boost the availability of electric medium and heavy-duty vehicles and reduce pollutants from diesel engines.
The commission is seeking to replicate California regulations adopted last year that will impose more stringent emission standards on heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers and increase diesel engine testing requirements.
An accompanying rule will require manufacturers beginning in 2025 to sell a percentage of zero-emission big rig trucks, buses, delivery vans and other vehicles in the state. That percentage will rise each year. By 2035, three-quarters of buses, over half of pickups and vans and 40% of heavy-duty trucks sold in the state will be zero-emission.
Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon. DEQ officials say the rules, which could be adopted later this year, will reduce cancer-causing pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions while helping Oregon get a foothold in the heavy-duty electric vehicle market that’s expected to ramp up in coming years.
“Failure to adopt these emerging technologies may lock the next generation of trucks and equipment into higher-emitting technologies and a continued reliance on fossil fuels,” Leah Feldon, Oregon DEQ deputy director, wrote in a memo earlier this spring.
But Keith Wilson, president and CEO of Portland-based Titan Freight Systems, said that California has put five years’ worth of policies and financial incentives in place to support the electrification of its trucking industry. Wilson, who sits on a committee that’s advising DEQ’s rulemaking process, said Oregon will have to quickly catch up if it expects the regulations to reshape the trucking industry.
Wilson, in a letter sent to the advisory committee last month, said California has an incentive offering $12,000 per heavy-duty truck, as well as other sources of funding from the state’s greenhouse gas reduction program. He also pointed out that six years ago, California lawmakers passed a bill directing electric utilities to accelerate the electrification of the state’s transportation infrastructure.
Titan has largely eliminated its use of fossil fuels by using renewable diesel instead of conventional fuel, said Wilson. The company has also pre-ordered six electric trucks from Freightliner that will be delivered in 2023, Wilson said. But Titan will have to build its own charging infrastructure and without incentives, each electric truck will cost $13,000 more annually to operate than conventional trucks, said Wilson.
“If we act without substantive work to ensure a successful policy, we risk continued deterioration in credibility but more importantly we lose time to address the climate crisis,” he wrote in the letter.
A legislative task force formed to help businesses reduce diesel emissions released its final report in December. It found that because of their limited range, electric trucks can only travel on routes that allow them to return to charging locations.
“Medium- and heavy-duty (electric vehicles) are available, but options are limited and are not yet cost-effective for most business models,” reads the report.
The Oregon Legislature has set a goal of at least 90% of new cars sold in the state being electric by 2035. Last session, lawmakers passed a bill aimed at increasing electric car infrastructure and extending incentives for consumers to buy the vehicles.
Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon. DEQ officials say the rules, which could be adopted later this year, will reduce cancer-causing pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions while helping Oregon get a foothold in the heavy-duty electric vehicle market that’s expected to ramp up in coming years.
In April, Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) and Portland General Electric opened “Electric Island,” a first-of-its-kind charging station for electric heavy-duty trucks and other vehicles. But Oregon currently has little additional infrastructure for heavy-duty trucks.
A report from the Oregon Department of Transportation released in June noted that charging infrastructure to support electric medium and heavy-duty trucks will require “significant, complex electricity infrastructure upgrades.” There is also a “substantial need” for more charging ports for commercial medium-duty vans and trucks, according to the report.
The report forecasts the number of charging ports for long-haul trucks to increase from zero in 2020 to as high as 690 by 2035. For commercial medium-duty vehicles, the number of ports will rise from under 50 to possibly over 4,000, the report states.
Patricio Portillo, a transportation analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council who also sits on the advisory committee, said the DEQ rule would give utilities an impetus to begin upgrading their infrastructure for an influx of electric trucks.
“It really unlocks other resources and investment,” he said. “Otherwise you can build lots of chargers but you won’t have deployment of these trucks.”
DEQ expects the proposed rule on diesel pollution to reduce nitrogen oxide pollution by 14% and particulate matter by 8% by 2035. The electric vehicle rule will reduce nitrogen oxide pollution by another 16% and particulate matter by 14% by 2040.
Portillo called the public health benefits of the rules “astronomical,” pointing out that diesel pollution is a crisis for many communities, particularly those of color and those located next to ports.
Large corporations inducing Amazon, Wal-Mart, Fed-Ex, Unilever and Ikea already have ambitious plans to begin electrifying their fleets. Manufacturers, including Daimler and Volvo, have also signaled they’re going to ramp up their production of electric heavy-duty trucks.
“Part of the challenge is you have a big state below Oregon that has this mandate in place,” said Portillo. “That’s where the manufacturers are going to send the vehicles.”
But adopting the same rules means medium and heavy-duty electric vehicles will also be on the roads in Oregon, he said.