A switch to cleaner heavy trucks faces roadblocks

Tesla missed 2020 deadline

BY MICHAEL BOOTH THE COLORADO SUN

When it comes to assessing Colorado’s chances for replacing dieselbelching heavy trucks with cleaner electric versions anytime soon, the state’s trucking industry o ers an anecdote about Tesla.

Given the erratic celebrity of CEO Elon Musk, who was made the richest person in the world by Tesla’s rise, the true story is suitably apocalyptic.

Colorado’s top trucking companies have known for years that state leaders planned to copy California law and require a growing portion of new heavy trucks to be electric beginning in 2027. ey’ve fought the proposed policy. But they also hedged and began putting deposits on one of the few clean trucks on the horizon, Tesla’s much-hyped, sleek electric semi-tractors. at was 2019.

At the time, delivery was expected in 2020.

None of the Colorado companies have received a Tesla truck yet. Tesla nally started delivering a few elsewhere in February 2022.

Last week, all the electric trucks Tesla had delivered were recalled, because of brake problems.

“We’re supportive of moving to the zero-emission vehicle environment. It’s just when you start to move up in size of vehicles, the technology chunk is substantial,” said Greg Fulton, president of the key trade group Colorado Motor Carriers Association.

Emissions from the transportation sector make up a large portion of both greenhouse gases that cause climate change, and the local chemical stew that bakes into lung-damaging ozone under Colorado’s summer sun. While medium- and heavy-duty trucks are just 10% of the vehicles on U.S. roads, they put out 25% of the greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, according to the Union for Concerned Scientists.

Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission previously adopted California’s standards for selling an increasing number of electric vehicles for the state’s light passenger vehicle eet. More than 10% of new cars bought by Coloradans are now EVs.

Now the AQCC is turning its attention to the stubborn diesel emissions of the heavy truck sector, with testimony, a debate and a vote scheduled next week that would make Colorado among the half-dozen states to adopt California’s heavy truck requirements. e EPA earlier this year gave California the waiver it needed to make its heavy truck rules more stringent than federal standards.

State air quality o cials and environmental groups say the socalled Advanced Clean Trucks vote is another crucial step in Colorado’s e orts to meet both climate emissions goals and EPA ozone caps, which the northern Front Range has violated for years. ey also see it as a big down payment for the environmental justice movement, bringing cleaner vehicles to the lower-income neighborhoods that have long choked on diesel emissions from surrounding interstates and the trucking businesses based there.

Community events on the clean trucks policy have been overwhelmed by Spanish-speaking residents enthusiastic about both a less-polluting trucking industry around them, and the chance to buy new or used electric passenger cars, said Juan Madrid, executive director of Colorado GreenLatinos. An Aurora event ran out of translation headsets, he said.

“Black, brown, and Indigenous communities are all interested in this technology not just for the health bene ts, but on how this will help improve their lives. And then some of those folks were asking about electric heat pumps and asking about building electri cation and solar,” Madrid said. “ e technology is there, and often the administration and legislators don’t think that this population is interested or can a ord this technology. But they are interested.” e rules the AQCC will debate and vote on also include a program to limit nitrogen oxide emissions from existing heavy trucks driven by fossil fuel engines. Nitrogen oxide is a key component of Front Range ozone, and the nine northern Front Range counties are in “severe” violation of EPA caps. e “Low NOx” program would impact more than 28,000 heavy trucks beginning in the 2027 model year, growing to 44,000 engines by 2050. Over that time, the rules would a ect a total of 722,000 vehicles on the road. e AQCC plans to double down on cuts to emissions from lighter passenger cars as well, with work on a followup to existing electric vehicle requirements they are calling “Clean Cars 2.” Both the clean cars sequel and the advanced clean trucks measures may also be overtaken by recent big federal moves: e EPA on Wednesday proposed strict new vehicle emissions standards aiming for 67% of new passenger car sales to be electric by 2032. e motor carriers want the AQCC to be more realistic about what’s happening on the roads in Colorado. Few electric-powered models of heavy trucks are for sale right now, and those available are both back ordered and extremely pricey, the motor carriers’ Fulton said. It’s not at all clear how many more truck builders will have models widely available for the 2027 model year, he said.

Under the clean trucks law passed by California and now being matched by other states, zeroemissions vehicles must make up between 40% to 75% of new sales by 2035, with the amounts varying by weight category. If Colorado’s rules are passed this month, the sales minimums would kick in here for the 2027 model year and ramp up from there.

Moreover, a blanket clean trucks standard nationwide doesn’t account for acute regional di erences, Fulton said. California’s large, regularly spaced cities and warmer weather allow for faster adoption of electric trucks that will at rst have more limited operating range than diesel models. Cold weather a ects battery storage capacity, as does hauling loads up Colorado’s steep mountain terrain.

Long-haul truckers will have to make major adaptations as well. Federal trucking safety rules limit how many hours in a row a driver can be on the road before taking extended rest. Hauling companies will have to build in electric charging time into schedules, and that’s assuming federal and state authorities help build enough heavy-duty fast charging stations to serve the industry, Fulton said. A trip to Colorado’s Western Slope that can now be done in one shift may have to be split over two shifts, upending the volatile economics of the trucking industry, he said.

“We’d be on the edge of the range to just get to Grand Junction today,” he said.

Fulton says the carriers would like the AQCC to consider expanding de nitions of low-emission heavy trucks that would t under a new standard. Current zero-emission technology is usually de ned as electric motors powered by cleanly generated electricity, or emerging hydrogen technology. Truckers have had success, for example, with so-called renewable natural gas, which is methane captured from the decomposing trash in land lls. e EPA also adopted new heavy truck standards nationwide in December, but environmental advocates said the California model goes farther in reducing nitrogen oxide ey want the state to keep moving forward on adopting the California model. e Colorado Energy O ce and other state o cials have thoroughly studied the heavy truck market’s capacity in the next few years, and they conclude that clean models will be widely enough available to the industry, said Cindy Copeland, air and climate policy advisor for Boulder County. Copeland is one of a group of Front Range elected o cials and agencies in Colorado Communities for Climate Action, which has been pushing the AQCC to go farther, faster on controlling ozone and greenhouse gases. e AQCC should reject the “mar- ket is not ready” claims about clean trucks, Copeland said.

Carriers would also like to see a greater emphasis on a trade-in program that would get older, dirtier diesel rigs o the road. Modern fossil fuel engines burn much more cleanly, and removing the highestemitting engines could go a long way to clean Colorado skies, Fulton said.

“ e di culty I’m going to have on that one is nobody wants to replace a diesel with a diesel,” he said.

“We heard this argument, the exact same one, when Colorado adopted zero-emissions passenger vehicle standards back in 2019,” said Copeland, noting that state consumers are adopting electric vehicles even faster than planned in that e ort four years ago. “ at’s the way the market is moving.” is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

Thu 4/27

Tom Mcelvain Music @ 5pm

The Englewood Tavern, 4386 S Broadway, Englewood Jamie Lissow @ 6:30pm

Comedy Works South, 5345 Landmark Pl, Greenwood Village

Fri 4/28

Mark O'Connor @ 6pm Lone Tree Arts Center, 10075 Commons St, Lone Tree

Vamonos Pest/Mobro:

Vamonos Pest at Cherokee Ranch & Castle @ 5:30pm

Cherokee Ranch & Castle, 6113 N Daniels Park Rd, Sedalia

Wild Pink @ 6pm

Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Englewood

R�N for Fire Heroes - Fire�ghter Strength Challenge & 5K @ 11pm / $30

Apr 30th - May 7th

1071 Round Top Lane, Castle Rock

Mon 5/01

Social Skills: Group for Teens (1317 yrs) S/S23 @ 5am

May 1st - Aug 31st

Parker Recreation Center, 17301 E Lincoln Ave., Parker

Kids’ Zone: Gym Jam (3-6 yrs) S/S23

@ 5am

May 1st - Aug 31st

Jamie Lissow @ 6:15pm

Comedy Works South, 5345 Land‐mark Pl, Greenwood Village

Tom Mcelvain Music @ 7pm Wild Goose Saloon, Parker

Dave Hadley: Water 2 Wine w/ June Star

@ 5pm Water 2 Wine, 8130 S University Blvd #110, Centennial

Ryan Chrys & The Rough Cuts @ 8pm Wild Goose Saloon, Parker

Miguel Mateos @ 8:30pm

Stampede, 2430 S Havana St, Aurora

Sat 4/29

The Slocan Ramblers: Five String Barn Concert @ 6:30pm

Five String Barn Concert, Castle Rock

Sun 4/30

Parker Recreation Center, 17301 E Lincoln Ave., Parker

BOOM Sports: (18 mos-6 yrs) 10 Punch Card S/S23 @ 5am May 1st - Aug 31st

Parker Fieldhouse, 18700 E Plaza Dr, Parker

Preschool Month RegistrationMay @ 8am / Free May 1st - May 31st Parker Fieldhouse, 18700 E Plaza Dr., Parker. 303-805-6315

Tue 5/02

Gymnastics: Ninja: Mighty Ninja (34 yrs) May @ 3pm

May 2nd - May 23rd

Parker Recreation Center, 17301 E Lincoln Ave., Parker

Denver Concert Band: Young Artist Concert @ 1pm / $22

Lone Tree Arts Center, 10075

Commons Street, Lone Tree. Info@ DenverConcertBand.org, 720-5091000

Ruston Kelly @ 6pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Engle‐wood

Wed 5/03

Dear Marsha,: DM Acoustic @ Brewability @ 5:30pm Brewability Lab, 3445 S Broadway, Englewood

Whitechapel

@ 7pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 South Broadway, En‐glewood

Littleton YMCA Offering Free Family Fun on Healthy Kids Day @ 8am Littleton Family YMCA, 11 West Dry Creek Court, Littleton

6 Million Dollar Band @ 7pm Wild Goose Saloon, Parker

Kelsey Cook @ 6pm Comedy Works South, 5345 Landmark Pl, Greenwood Village

New Pornographers @ 7pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 South Broadway, En‐glewood

Ladies Night @ 5pm / $10 Stampede, 2430 South Havana, Aurora

Thu 5/04

Bad Omens: 107.9 KBPI Birthday Bash @ 6pm Fiddlers Green Amphitheater, 6501 S Fid‐dlers Green Cir, Greenwood Village