If you live In the United States, the things you buy—that new dining room table, that bag of rice, or those pants arriving at your house right now—could experience the future of all-electric global transportation before you do.
Tens of millions of tons of cargo pass through California ports each year, moving from ship to ship and beyond aboard massive tractor-trailers. Forty percent of the nation’s containerized imports pass through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach alone, vital links in a global trade chain connecting factories around the world to America’s doorstep.
Yet a new rule adopted last month by California’s air regulator requires major changes to that supply chain, in the name of saving the Earth’s climate and the lungs of people who live near ports. By 2035, every California drayage vehicle (large trucks that move goods between ports, rail yards, and distribution centers) must be a zero-emission vehicle. Starting next year, any trucking or shipping company that acquires a new truck will have to purchase an electric model powered by batteries or hydrogen fuel cells.
The mandates on California ports are just a preview of what needs to happen nationally and globally, environmental advocates say, if policymakers are to seriously address the threats of climate change. California plans to ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars to consumers by 2035. And the switch from diesel to electric cargo trucks is also expected to help clean up the dirty air surrounding the nation’s ports and rail yards. State, good news for predominantly working communities of color. and live in these areas and, as a result, suffer higher rates of cancer, heart disease and asthma. By 2050, the California government estimates, this regulation could help prevent some 5,500 deaths from heart and lung causes.
California’s new rule, part of a series of state regulations targeting freight, promises to accelerate the development of a nascent electric heavy-duty truck industry, putting the weight of the world’s fifth-largest economy — and some of the regulators most creative environmentalists on the planet – behind the companies that build trucks. , batteries and charging stations. Thirteen states have committed to matching or considering matching California’s clean truck policies.
Some on the front lines of the electrification mandate, including small business owners who move nearly a third of California’s containerized goods, say regulations have moved too quickly. “It’s the cart before the horse,” says Matt Schrap, CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association, which represents freight industry companies working at West Coast ports.
