Clean Trucks
Clean trucks, buses, and vans are Oregon’s transportation future and we must accelerate the transition from polluting diesel engines to affordable, reliable, zero-emissions electric vehicles to protect our health and improve equity for all.
Oregon’s biggest opportunity in the short term is to adopt two rules currently under development at the Dept. of Environmental Quality: the Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) Rule and Heavy-Duty Omnibus (Low-NOx) Rule are powerful and complementary tools that must be adopted together to effectively reduce diesel pollution and jumpstart the zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty (MHD) truck market in Oregon (more info available here).
Both rules apply only to sales of new trucks and only govern truck manufacturers. The ACT rule compels truck manufacturers to offer an increasing percentage of new sales to be zero-emission medium and heavy-duty trucks, while the Low-NOx rule will require new fossil fuel powered engines to reduce toxic air pollution from MHD trucks sold beginning model year 2025.
WHAT ARE MEDIUM- AND HEAVY-DUTY TRUCKS?
From delivery vans, to buses, to tractor-trailers, these are the kinds of electric and clean vehicles that will be more available with adoption of the two rules.
ADVANCED CLEAN TRUCK RULE
This rule would require manufacturers of trucks, buses, and vans to ensure that a certain percentage of their new sales are zero-emission vehicles by a specific date. This guarantees those who want to make the transition to clean trucks have enough to buy. In Oregon, this rule would begin with model year 2025 if passed in 2021.
The rule establishes a tiered set of requirements based on the type of vehicle: beginning in 2024, manufacturers must increase their zero-emission truck sales to between 30-50% by 2030 and 40-75% by 2035.
HEAVY DUTY OMNIBUS LOW-NOx RULE
Despite best efforts to protect health and the climate, some diesel trucks will be sold in the coming years. To make those new trucks as clean as possible, this rule would dramatically reduce NOx pollution (smog) from new diesel truck engines by comprehensively overhauling exhaust emission standards, test procedures, and other emissions-related requirements for 2024 and subsequent model year heavy-duty engines.
The NOx standards would be cut to about 75% below current standards beginning in 2024 and 90% below current standards in 2027.
The “Low-NOx” Rule is an emissions standard and will reduce emissions from new fossil fuel MHD trucks that are sold after 2024.
Like a tractor and a trailer, one rule can’t get the job done without the other, and together they’ll take us places. The Advanced Clean Truck and Heavy Duty Omnibus (Low NOx) rules must be adopted simultaneously to maximize public health and environmental benefits.
There’s a convoy of states joining together for a clean truck fleet by passing the Advance Clean Truck Rule and Low-NOx Omnibus Rule: New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, California, Massachusetts, etc.
Oregon's Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) has the opportunity to adopt both of these rules in November 2021! To reduce the public health impacts of diesel pollution on Oregonians and ensure Oregon achieves its greenhouse gas reduction targets in transportation, the Clean Air, Healthy Communities Coalition is working to get both truck rules passed by the EQC by the end of this year.