As president and CEO of the Ohio Trucking Association, I am deeply concerned about the detrimental impact of the Environmental Protection Agency’s newly finalized tailpipe emissions regulations for heavy duty vehicles. These regulations, under the guise of environmental protection, threaten to disrupt and destabilize the backbone of Ohio’s economy — the trucking industry.
The EPA’s stringent emissions standards, particularly targeting zero-emissions technologies for heavy-duty trucks by 2030, are not just unrealistic but potentially catastrophic for both our members and Ohioans as a whole. The trucking sector, which moves roughly 73 percent of the nation’s freight by weight, faces insurmountable challenges in adapting to these mandates. The infrastructure and technological advancements required to meet these standards simply do not align with the EPA’s ag-gressive timeline.
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The trucking industry is not opposed to battery-electric vehicles. What the trucking industry does oppose are one-size-fits-all mandates that impose singular technologies onto an extremely varied industry like trucking, while ruling out alternative fuel sources that offer greater environmental, operational, and financial benefits. Like many other diverse industries, the trucking industry needs a range of technologies tailored to different operational needs. It’s important to recognize that the United States’ current electricity grid and infrastructure simply could not handle a transition to battery electric trucks at this rate and scale.
A battery electric truck would be 2.8 times more expensive than a regular eco diesel truck, not to mention the operating costs and other technical issues that would accumulate over time. For example, a battery electric truck weighs about 13,000 pounds more than its eco diesel counterpart vehicle, resulting in a decrease in efficiency when looking at overall performance. Seventy-seven percent of United States trucks travel 250 miles or more daily, yet the battery that would power electric trucks today only has a useable trip range of 150 to 250 miles. In comparison, renewable diesel has no range limits and can run 1,200 miles on a single fill-up. Since renewable diesel is a drop-in fuel that works in today’s eco-diesel engines, there’s no lengthy and costly infrastructure buildout required before.
It’s clear that the EPA’s approach appears to disregard the economic realities and complexities of the trucking industry.
By pushing through these regulations without adequate consideration for feasibility or industry readiness, the EPA risks undermining the very sectors that sustain our national economy. We as a country are simply not ready for a transition of this magnitude. Ohio truckers and businesses cannot afford the consequences of rushed and impractical regulations.
We need policymakers to stand with us in advocating for sensible legislation that supports a sustainable transition while safeguarding the economic vitality of our state and nation.
The time to act is now, before irreparable damage is done to an industry that drives America forward.
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