Trucks Clips: December 21, 2023

 

White House

 

EPA’s Proposed Truck Emission Standards Reach OMB — “A proposed rule that establishes stricter truck emission standards is quickly making its way through the regulatory process. On Monday, Dec. 18, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget received the Environmental Protection Agency’s notice of proposed rulemaking that would set the strictest truck emission standards at the federal level. The proposed rule was submitted to the Federal Register in April, with the comment period ending in June. EPA’s submission to the OMB comes as environmental groups and Democrat lawmakers put pressure on the Biden administration to act more quickly to establish tougher truck emission standards. On Nov. 29, Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., held a press conference to voice their support for the rulemaking, formally known as the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles – Phase 3. The senators want the rule finalized by early 2024. According to a timetable on the OMB website, a final rule is set for March 2024.” [Land Line, 12/20/23 (=)]

 

 

Truck Manufacturers

 

Mercedes-Benz Group AG

 

New Fuel Cell Electric Truck Gets A Big Thumbs-Up — “The battle between batteries and fuel cells is heating up to the boiling point, but Daimler Truck, for one, is not picking sides. The A-list European battery-electric truck maker has put its foot down firmly in the middle. Exhibit A is the company’s new Mercedes-Benz GenH2 hydrogen fuel cell truck. The new truck is aimed at operations that are less than optimal for battery-electric trucks, and five leading stakeholders have already signed up to give it a whirl.” [CleanTechnica, 12/20/23 (=)]

 

Daimler Partners With Amazon For Fuel Cell Truck Trials — “Daimler Truck plans to begin the first on-road customer tests of hydrogen fuel cell-powered Mercedes-Benz GenH2 trucks in global markets in the middle of 2024, the German parent of Daimler Truck North America said Dec. 19. Amazon, Air Products, Ineos, Holcim and Wiedmann & Winz will take part in initial customer trials of the trucks. The manufacturer views fuel cell technology as elemental to reducing emissions for long-distance trucking. The GenH2 truck is based on a conventional Mercedes-Benz Actros cabover longhaul truck. It has two liquid hydrogen tanks and a fuel cell system. The fuel cell system of the GenH2 delivers 300 kilowatts and the battery provides an additional 400 kW” [Transport Topics, 12/20/23 (=)]

 

Rivian Automotive Inc.

 

Clayco Selected To Build Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Plant For Rivian — “The Rivian SUV isn’t just parked outside Clayco for easy product placement. The two companies are now business partners. ‘We’re really excited to forge this new partnership with Rivian,’ Clayco’s Tony Mezines said. Rivian selected Clayco to build a cutting-edge electric vehicle manufacturing plant about an hour east of Atlanta, Georgia. ‘We really have the best, brightest and most creative employees working here at Clayco, and it allows us to take on these highly complex projects,’ Mezines said. Mezines says the Rivian project furthers the advanced manufacturing work that Clayco’s been involved in for the last two decades. ‘Over the past year, we’ve really seen a large uptick in sustainable energy projects. Whether it’s lithium-ion batteries, solar manufacturing, or now, with the announcement of Rivian, electric vehicle manufacturing,’ Mezines said.” [KTVI-TV, 12/19/23 (=)]

 

Rivian's $5 Billion Expansion Plans Finally Moving Forward — “The road to electrification is pretty rocky. It’s a common, almost everyday tale in the auto industry—companies dive into making electric cars, and they often hit snags before getting things right. Rivian faced a similar story in Georgia with the manufacturing site for the next-generation R2-platform-based EVs. Legal battles over property tax breaks made things tough, and construction of its second plant which was intended to begin in the summer of 2022 seemed indefinitely delayed. In an earlier ruling, a local superior court had denied Rivian access to the bonds that would allow $700 million in tax breaks. In August 2023, the Georgia Court of Appeals overturned that decision and sided with state and local authorities, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The local authorities were vouching for Rivian to go forward with its massive investment, which would be a shot in the arm for the local economy. With the legal battles out of the way, it seems like Rivian is finally pushing forward with the site.” [Inside EVs, 12/20/23 (=)]

 

 

Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles

 

Battery-Electric Terminal Tractors Have Proved They Can Do The Job — “It’s not often a technology is a perfect fit for a job. By perfect fit, I don’t mean there are no challenges with deploying the technology but rather that the challenges can be overcome with some planning and training. I think battery-electric powertrains are ideally suited for terminal tractor applications. Have you heard of terminal tractors? Some of you may not have heard of them, or you may have heard them called by not-so-glamorous names like yard dogs, goats, mules, etc. Consider this: Terminal tractors typically see very few miles each day, stay close to their base, and don’t operate at very high speeds. Keeping terminal tractors close to base allows them to take advantage of opportunity charging, which means they can be plugged into the charger when the driver is on break or at lunch. Another big plus is that electric units can be a direct one-for-one replacement for all diesel-powered terminal tractors with little to no adjustments to operational practices needed.” [FleetOwner, 12/20/23 (+)]

 

TSD Panelists Discuss Implications Of Electric School Bus On Special Needs Service — “During the 2023 Transporting Students with Disabilities and Special Needs Conference, panelists discussed implementing electric school buses into their fleets and the impact it had on the industry’s most vulnerable population. Sitting on the Nov. 18 panel was Peggy Stone, director of transportation for Lincoln County Schools in West Virginia, Steven Mentzer, senior EV principal consultant for First Consulting, and Michael Hogains, a driver trainer with Los Angeles Unified School District. The panel was moderated by Jessica Keithan, co-founder and director of the Texas Electric School Bus Project. Mentzer started the discussion by painting a picture of the school buses many remember as children themselves. He used words like big, smelly cramped and loud. For himself, a child with undiagnosed ADHD, he said the school bus provided him with the type of environment he could thrive in. He shared he never understood why there were kids praying for the ride to be over. Now, he realizes that students with sensory challenges, for example, could find the ride to school difficult.” [FleetOwner, 12/20/23 (=)]

 

 

States & Local

 

California

 

ATRI: California’s Zero-Emission Goal Comes At High Cost — “California’s race to have near-total-zero-emission passenger vehicles and heavy trucks will result in a greater need for electricity at higher prices and more commercial vehicles to deliver today’s amount of freight. These findings and others are based on a new analysis released Dec. 18 by the American Transportation Research Institute called ‘Is California Ready for an Electric Vehicle Future?’ With California instituting aggressive laws (being copied by other states) to eliminate carbon fuels from its interstate transportation, ATRI took a microscope to view a likely impact of a full EV evolution. ATRI’s new analysis is a companion to its December 2022 report ‘Charging Infrastructure Challenges for the U.S. Electric Vehicle Fleet.’ That report determined that full electrification of the U.S. vehicle fleet would need much of the nation’s present electricity. Domestic longhaul trucking would use more than 10% of today’s electricity, and an all-electric U.S. vehicle fleet would use more than 40%.” [Transport Topics, 12/20/23 (=)]

 

Podcast: Reality Check On California’s Electric Vehicle Plans — “California’s got some ambitious goals when it comes to cutting down emissions. The state will be relying heavily on electric vehicles to get the job done, but new analysis from the American Transportation Research Institute lays out just how difficult that will be. Then, some freight is easier to transport than others, but a man in Arizona might have one of the more difficult loads – elephants. And finally, December is shaping up to be one of the slowest freight months in seven years.” [Land Line, 12/20/23 (-)]

 

 


 

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