Biden Administration's EPA Rule Poses Trillion-Dollar Burden on U.S. Trucking

Mark Green
Posted April 11, 2024

The U.S. trucking industry is understandably concerned about the Biden administration’s new heavy-duty greenhouse gas rule. If you were facing nearly $1 trillion in projected infrastructure costs alone, you’d be nervous, too.

EPA’s new rule for heavy-duty trucks – like the one for cars and smaller trucks that Senate legislation would halt – reflects a Washington-knows-best, one-size-fits-all approach that fails to consider the potential costly, lifestyle-changing impacts on American families and businesses.

We’ve weighed in on the light- and medium-duty rule, which effectively sets up a de facto ban on gasoline vehicles starting in 2027, tilting the marketplace in favor of electric vehicles and stripping Americans of the right and freedom to decide for themselves the vehicle they will drive.

Washington’s heavy hand doesn’t stop there. EPA also is taking aim at commercial trucking, which transported 11.46 billion tons of freight in 2022, representing more than 72% of total domestic tonnage shipped, according to the American Trucking Associations. EPA’s heavy-duty rule will require a major shift to battery electric vehicles.

Costs to the trucking sector are shocking. A new analysis by the Clean Freight Coalition (CFC) estimates that full electrification of the nation’s big trucks will cost commercial operators $620 billion in charging infrastructure alone – not including costs for electric trucks that are two to three times the cost of a diesel-fueled truck. Another $370 billion will be needed from utilities and government to upgrade their networks and the power grid, the study said.

Put the preceding two paragraphs together, and that’s a potential cost of nearly $1 trillion that will affect truckers and the goods they transport to virtually every corner of the U.S.

Jim Mullen, CFC executive director, said EPA’s rule “will have detrimental ramifications to the commercial vehicle industry, many small and large businesses, commercial vehicle dealers and their customers.” Mullen added that costs “will ultimately be borne on the backs of consumers.”

In other words, in the end, American families and businesses likely will pay the freight on the EPA heavy-duty rule.

Mullen said the rule will require adoption of battery electric commercial vehicles at an impossible pace. He said today’s all-electric carriers:

• Do not meet the operational demands of many motor carrier applications;
• Must operate with reduced payloads, so that more trucks are needed to haul the same amount of freight; and
• Lack sufficient charging and alternative fueling infrastructure to support adoption.

In addition, battery electric motorcoaches have a reduced range and capacity compared to diesel buses. These commercial vehicles are in their infancy and are just now being tested and validated with real world-miles.

Fox News interviewed Lewie Pugh, who drove a truck for 25 years and serves as executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA):

“Truckers want clean air [and] clean water, but there are certain ways to go about it. We’re passing mandatory laws on technology that’s not even invented, and nobody knows what the cost is going to be.”

Washington is coming for Americans’ cars, pickup trucks – and the big rigs that haul the products and materials that are foundational to their way of life.

API President and CEO Mike Sommers, in a recent article for Newsweek:

“In reality, we need a broad range of vehicle technologies, including those that run on gasoline, hybrids, and electric vehicles. What we don't need is Washington picking winners and losers and using rules to limit Americans' vehicle choice. Congress now has to make a decision whether to protect consumer choice, U.S. manufacturing workers and our hard-won energy security by overturning this deeply flawed regulation.”