ROADBLOCKS

emissions 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.

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.

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 that contributes to Colorado’s ozone. 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.