“The truck community has long been a good steward and supporter of our environment,” said Jim Ward, president of the Truckload Carriers Association, a founding coalition member. “Who doesn’t want to pass on clean air and clean water to the next generation?”
Ward noted the industry has been tackling the challenges of improving emissions over the past four decades. He said each new emissions-reduction technology for diesel equipment has also pushed costs onto fleets. Ward supported ATA’s push to repeal the Federal Excise Tax, a World War I-era fee that adds 12% to the costs of new heavy-duty trucks.
ATA has said that repealing this tax would not only make new zero-emission equipment cheaper but also make more environmentally friendly diesel trucks more affordable. In California, for example, more than half of the Class 8 trucks on the road are pre-2010 models, which don’t have the same emissions-reduction technology as today’s Class 8 trucks.
Ward added that there are still many unknowns about the ROI of commercial EVs, including maintenance challenges and battery disposal. “We’re not here to say no—we do want to be good stewards of the environment,” he said. “But we need to step back, take a look at this thing, involve the stakeholders in this conversation, and figure out what that path is going to look like going forward.”
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