California Air Resources Board

To meet our air quality standards and greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, California is working to transition truck and bus fleets to zero-emissions by 2045 everywhere feasible and significantly earlier for certain market segments such as drayage applications. Several regulations have been put in place or are in development to achieve these goals:

• Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation
• Advanced Clean Trucks Regulation
• Innovative Clean Transit Regulation
• Zero-Emission Airport Shuttle
• Zero-Emission Powertrain Certification
• Zero-Emission Transport Refrigeration Unit (TRU) Regulation

In addition to these regulations, Senate Bill 372 (SB 372) directs CARB to develop an assistance program to support the adoption of medium- and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles. This includes financial support, such as incentive and loan programs, and non-financial support, such as web resources, technical assistance, and training. 

CARB staff hopes to hear experiences, feedback, and/or suggestions for how CARB can further encourage commercial vehicle owners to use cleaner technology such as zero-emission trucks, and better support them in this process. We are seeking input from the people in our State who are impacted by poor air quality and have been advocating for cleaner transportation and from medium- and heavy-duty truck owners, especially smaller fleets, who will benefit most from improvements to funding programs and other resources that CARB is developing to support them. Throughout this effort, CARB aims to prioritize underserved communities and small truck fleets.

We have already been hearing feedback from stakeholders on this topic, including:

• Replace diesel trucks with zero-emission trucks as soon as possible
• Focus on funding the electrification of small fleets
• Marginalized communities are not receiving outreach and not hearing about funding opportunities
• Workforce development & capacity building is needed
• Fueling infrastructure install costs, land availability, public access, and charging times all pose challenges
• Proposed regulatory deadlines are coming too soon for fleets to install fueling infrastructure in time
• Truck owners need funding for infrastructure
• Truck owners need technical assistance when navigating the transition to zero-emission vehicles
• Truck owners need a streamlined funding application process and timelines

CARB is addressing these concerns in several ways by developing zero-emission truck regulations, developing funding programs that prioritize small truck fleets, collaborating with other State agencies on infrastructure, proposing more compliance pathways for proposed zero-emission regulations, creating a state-wide technical assistance program, and more.

This engagement effort will help CARB, other California agencies, and local governments to strategize and develop California’s next steps towards a more accessible zero-emission future. Visit the CARB SB372 bill webpage to learn more or find the full bill text and all the directives of the bill. 

CARB staff have already anticipated the need to offer support to fleets in the transition to zero-emission technologies and have developed several tools and programs that are intended to provide support. You can find a full catalog of these resources on this program webpage.