The bid to make Illinois a leader on electric trucking

Yahoo

01-04-2025

A coalition of environmental justice advocates is pushing Illinois to become the first Midwest state to adopt California's Advanced Clean Trucks standards designed to spur a transition to zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles over the next decade.
'Air pollution is an equity issue,' Griselda Chavez, an environmental justice organizer with Warehouse Workers for Justice, said at a recent press conference. The group represents workers and residents in communities heavily impacted by warehouses, including the Chicago-area town of Joliet, a major logistics hub.
'Black, brown, and low-income communities in and around Joliet are disproportionately affected by diesel pollution, large amounts of truck traffic, and increasing growth of the warehouse industry,' Chavez said. 'Those workers also go home to their families and go to schools that are surrounded by large amounts of truck traffic and poor air quality.'
The Illinois Pollution Control Board is considering adopting not only California's clean truck standards but also the Golden State's Advanced Clean Cars II program, which would phase out the sale of most non-electric passenger vehicles by 2035, and its stricter nitrogen oxide limits on heavy-duty vehicles. The deliberations are happening as the Trump administration seeks to block California's unique authority to set vehicle emission standards that exceed federal rules.
Illinois advocates have focused mostly on the clean trucks program because of the health and environmental justice implications of diesel-powered trucks throughout the state. They are especially concerned about places like Joliet and Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, a largely immigrant community where warehouses have also proliferated.
In 2023, the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization worked with the Center for Neighborhood Technology on a truck-counting study that showed on one June day, an average of 1.5 heavy-duty trucks per minute drove along a residential street in the heart of the community.
Sally Burgess, downstate lead organizing representative for Sierra Club's Illinois chapter, told the Pollution Control Board during a March 10 hearing that she counted more than 300 diesel-burning semi-trucks during the 65-mile drive between her home in central Illinois and the state's capitol.
'All along our route, on both sides of the highway, farm fields, rustic barns, cows and other farm animals, some homes,' said Burgess. 'Some would refer to it as a bucolic rural setting — clogged with diesel trucks.'
The Advanced Clean Trucks program would require manufacturers selling in Illinois to ensure that between 40% and 75% of their heavy-duty vehicle sales are zero-emissions by 2035, with the percentage depending on type of vehicle. They would have to sell higher percentages of electric medium-sized non-tractor trucks than pickup trucks and vans as well as larger tractor-trailers.
Manufacturers could also comply by purchasing credits from other companies that go beyond those targets, or by shifting credits from types of vehicles where they exceed the mandates.
'If, for example, a truck-maker sells a lot of zero-emission delivery vans but doesn't offer a zero-emission version of their box trucks, they can convert their extra [pickup and van] credits into [midsize truck] credits and still maintain compliance,' said Trisha DelloIacono, head of policy for Calstart, a national nonprofit focused on clean transportation policy and market development, by email.
DelloIacono said demand for zero-emissions heavy-duty vehicles is so high that manufacturers should not have trouble meeting the sales targets if they make the inventory available. After a certain number of years, those that don't comply either through electric vehicle sales or credit purchases could be fined.
Advocates say that the state mandates benefit people nationwide since they motivate manufacturers to increase their EV offerings.
Manufacturers including Daimler Truck's Freightliner, Volvo, Navistar, GM, and Ford have introduced or increased sales of electric trucks since California adopted its clean trucks program, according to Calstart, and companies have also rolled out charging infrastructure and heavy-duty 'charging-as-a-service' offerings that include installation, maintenance, and management.
'If Illinois adopts [the Advanced Clean Trucks program], we could expect to see new truck charging stations pop up at rest stops along major freight corridors like I-57, I-80, and I-70,' said DelloIacono. 'This in turn would make it easier for fleet operators in nearby states to start adopting zero-emission trucks for regional-haul and long-haul routes.'
Ann Schreifels, who testified before the Pollution Control Board, said she saw firsthand how regulations drive industry innovation when she worked at the machinery manufacturing firm Caterpillar in Peoria, Illinois. Schreifels, who retired about five years ago, said she does not speak for the company but recalled how industry opposition to new federal emissions regulations gave way to progress once they took effect.
'The entire industry was against the regulations,' she told Canary Media. 'Change is hard. It took the fuel manufacturers, suppliers, designers, software engineers all working together to solve the problem. But the end result was the company made the best engine they'd ever made — more fuel efficient, more reliable, more durable, it saved customers money. Despite the fact that industry is going to complain and lobby against regulations, that's when innovation actually happens.'
A national association of small businesses told regulators they oppose the program and that it could drive businesses out of Illinois. But other companies have expressed support, including Kansas-based electric truck manufacturer Orange EV and Rivian, the electric pickup truck manufacturer with a factory in Normal, Illinois.
Tom Van Heeke, environmental and legal senior policy advisor at Rivian, said in an email, 'The standards would set Illinois apart as the Midwest's undisputed priority market for EVs, giving adjacent industries — from EV suppliers to charging providers — investment certainty while delivering EV choice and cleaner air to businesses and communities across the state.'
The federal Clean Air Act governs vehicle emissions but grants California the right to receive waivers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allowing the state to impose stricter standards. A 1990 Clean Air Act amendment also lets other states adopt California's standards.
President Donald Trump has long denounced California's vehicle emissions programs and during his first term revoked the state's waivers.
The Biden administration's EPA granted California's Advanced Clean Trucks waiver in 2023 and in December 2024 granted the state's Advanced Clean Cars II waiver, letting it ban sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035.
On Jan. 13, ahead of Trump's inauguration, California preemptively withdrew its request for a waiver to implement its Advanced Clean Fleets program that would have ordered all commercial trucking fleets to transition to zero-emissions between 2035 and 2042.
The EPA can revoke waivers through a lengthy process, as it did during the previous Trump administration, but Republicans have more recently proposed overturning waivers through the Congressional Review Act, which gives Congress power to invalidate rules within 60 days after they are passed. On March 6, the U.S. Government Accountability Office opined that California's vehicle emissions waivers are not rules and hence immune from that law, affirming its similar 2023 finding.
Nonetheless, Chicago attorney Timothy French advised the Illinois Pollution Control Board during a March 11 hearing that these federal efforts make it more challenging for Illinois to adopt the Advanced Clean Trucks program.
'You have to factor all this in if you're considering what proponents are asking you to do,' said French, who has represented trade organizations in regulatory proceedings and litigated before the U.S. Supreme Court and federal and state courts.