EV mandates for the trucking industry are an enormous mistake for many reasons validated by a new study from the American Transportation Research Institute. The report, Renewable Diesel – A Catalyst for Decarbonization, provides data using the U.S. Department of Energy’s GREET model that proves renewable diesel (RD) has a much smaller carbon footprint over its lifecycle than do battery-electric trucks, and that widescale adoption of RD in trucking can be achieved at a fraction of the cost of electrification.
To be clear: the trucking industry is not opposed to battery-electric vehicles (BEV). Some fleets are testing them, and the initial results are mixed at best. What’s abundantly clear from early adopters of this technology is that the hurdles to widescale adoption are so massive and undeniable that target and timelines mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) can be described as nothing more than utterly disconnected from reality.
This week a fleet manager for PITT OHIO, an early-adopter of BEV trucks, testified on Capitol Hill to explain the real-world challenges of commercial vehicle electrification to members of Congress:
What we do 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. Just as any good toolbox contains a diverse set of tools, each designed for specific tasks, the trucking industry needs a range of technologies tailored to different operational needs. Hammers are great at driving nails, but it’s not advisable to build a house with just a hammer. BEV trucks might work well in specific trucking operations, such as urban delivery and school buses–but you cannot move the entire U.S. economy on battery-electric alone.
EPA’s new Greenhouse Gas Phase 3 regulation classifies BEV trucks as “zero-emission,” but that’s only because regulators looked solely at tailpipe emissions and excluded the full life-cycle carbon footprint of battery-electric and other alternatives. It’s no longer a secret that battery-electric trucks are not truly zero-emission vehicles, as the sourcing of rare minerals, the production of Lithium-ion batteries, and the electricity generation and transmission required to power them generate significant carbon emissions. Replacing a petroleum diesel truck with battery-electric does reduce the lifecycle carbon footprint by about 30%. However, substituting renewable diesel in place of petroleum provides a far greater carbon reduction of nearly 70%.
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