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California EV Rules ‘Totally Impractical,’ Truckers Say; May as Well ‘Build a Spaceship and Go to Mars’

Posted on Monday, September 18, 2023
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by Outside Contributor
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California flag folded with electric cord and semi-truck

In early April, David Gurrola Jr. got behind the wheel of an electric semi and took it for a spin.

The southern San Diego–based trucker liked the way it looked and he liked the way it drove — the hulking vehicle accelerated smoothly like a car, he said. He was impressed.

But at this point, buying an electric truck makes no sense for Gurrola, a driver and small-business owner with two trucks and one employee. The cost of an electric truck, even with federal tax incentives, is out of reach, he said.

Even if he could afford one, there are few places for a driver like him to charge an electric truck, and the limited range he can drive on a single charge — maybe a couple of hundred miles — wouldn’t work for his daily trips to the Port of Long Beach. “Round trip from San Diego for me, it’s 234 miles,” he said. “That means on one trip, somewhere coming back south to San Diego, I have to find a charging station just to get enough power to get back home.”

And the two loads he’s currently running per day? “That becomes absolutely impossible with an electric truck,” he said. “That would make a huge impact on my business. In fact, it wouldn’t even be a business for me anymore. It would literally cut my revenue in half.”

Whether or not they make business sense for truckers like Gurrola, new California Air Resources Board, or CARB, regulations will begin forcing Golden State trucking companies big and small to add only electric trucks to their fleets starting in January, all part of a statewide mandate to slash greenhouse gases and to fight climate change.

The regulations are targeted at larger fleets — those with 50 or more trucks or that have $50 million or more in gross annual revenues — as well as at any firms or independent truckers who do drayage work in the state’s major seaports and rail yards. Starting January 1, those businesses will only be allowed to add zero-emission trucks to their fleets. Diesel trucks registered with the state by December 31 can be grandfathered in for a while.

By 2035, all trucks entering the California seaports and intermodal rail yards must be zero-emission vehicles, according to the regulations.

California leaders have pointed at the new rules, as well as similar regulations aimed at truck manufacturers, as critical in their commitment to protect the communities near the ports from pollution and to combat climate change. “The future happens here first, and California is once again showing the world what real climate action looks like,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in April.

California regulators insist that zero-emission tractors are already available and capable of meeting most regional and local trucking needs, and that reduced fuel costs and lowered maintenance costs for electric trucks will save fleets money in the long run.

Count Gurrola as skeptical.

“It’s completely, totally impractical,” Gurrola said of the requirements, a sentiment shared by other truckers, business leaders, and industry advocates who spoke with National Review.

They argue that the up-front costs of electric trucks and charging equipment are too steep, particularly for small firms and independent drivers. They say that the technology is too new to rely on, and the limited range of the electric trucks won’t work for companies whose drivers travel long distances. And they doubt that the state will be able to ramp up the charging infrastructure fast enough; a massive effort that will not only require building enough high-powered chargers but also ensuring that they’re strategically installed in the right places and that there is enough capacity during peak charging times.

There were fewer than 300 electric trucks on California roads last year. Under the regulations, there will need to be more than half a million by 2035.

“I’ve been working on air-board regulations for close to 13 years now. I’ve never seen a rule where there will probably be nearly zero precent compliance because it’s just not possible to figure out a way around some of these intractable issues around the technology,” said Chris Shimoda, senior vice president of government affairs with the California Trucking Association.

“Something’s going to have to give,” he said. “I don’t know at what point that is going to be. But CARB just putting their head down and expecting a miracle to happen, it’s not a way to be responsible in setting policies like this.”

If the rules are unachievable for the average trucker, he said, “they might as well be saying, ‘Hey, build a spaceship and go to Mars.’”

Jeff Cox, president and co-owner of Madera-based Best Drayage in Northern California said that electric trucks make no sense yet for his business, which runs over 100 trucks a day hauling agricultural products into the Port of Oakland. While the state claims that most drayage trucks drive fewer than 60 miles per day, virtually all of Best Drayage’s drivers, and the independent drivers who work with them, drive more than 300 miles per day, farther than they can go on a single charge.

“What I need is a truck on one charge that can do a round trip, 500 miles. And that doesn’t exist,” Cox said. In addition, he said, “we need public charging stations right off the highway.” He added, “The land alone is an issue. Where is this going to be? Will it be conveniently located? Will it be enough? . . . And then what happens when everybody is charging at the same time?”

While fueling a diesel truck can take a half hour to an hour, Cox said, charging an electric truck can keep it idle for several critical hours at a time. Add in time to load the trucks, to drive a few hundred miles, to wait in line at the port, and to unload, and “it’s impossible,” Cox said.

“What they’re doing is saying, basically, this is going to be a 20-hour workday,” he said.

California’s energy commission has estimated that to meet demand imposed by the new regulations, it will need more than 150,000 new charges dedicated to trucks by 2030. That’s the equivalent of installing 300 to 500 chargers per week, Shimoda said.

And it’s not like just throwing in a few new electric-car chargers at the mall. The energy required to charge electric trucks, and to charge them fast, is immense, and can put intense strain on the electrical grid and the individual electrical circuits. In many cases, building out the infrastructure behind the scenes will involve building new roadside substations, which can take years and is the equivalent of siting large factories, Shimoda said.

“We think we know charging because of cars. It’s a significantly different engineering problem at the end of the day,” Shimoda said.

Shimoda said he believes the state should have started with final-mile and e-commerce delivery trucks — the trucks that drive the shortest distances and that start from and return to the same location, where they can be plugged in overnight to slower-speed chargers, protecting the grid.

He noted that many independent truckers likely won’t have a home base with a charger.

“I’ve got owner-operators in my town who park at the apartment that they live in. And they park on the street outside the apartment. How do you accommodate that sort of use?” he said. “You’re not going to call your landlord and say, ‘I need a 350 kilowatt DC fast charger.’ They’re not going to do that. Neither is the utility for that matter.”

“They are going to need some sort of retail charging, your classic gas-station model,” he added.

Gurrola, the San Diego trucker, said there are a couple of public charging stations about ten miles from his home near the southern border. But, he said, truckers can’t just plug in and leave their trucks overnight.

“You can imagine, if I had one of those [electric] trucks, I’d have to drive ten miles down to the border, sit there for about two hours to get a full charge, and then drive all the way back to L.A.,” Gurrola said.

Shimoda said anyone buying an electric truck — either to add to their fleet or because they need to replace a truck that breaks down or becomes obsolete — should come in with no expectation that the charging infrastructure will be built out in the near future.

“There is no exemption from the rule if you are waiting for the Pilot Flying J centers of the world to make charging available. You’re just supposed to buy a truck and hope that someone creates charging infrastructure,” he said.

That, he added, could make it hard for an owner operator to get financing for a new truck.

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Rik
Rik
1 year ago

Comrade Newsom doesn’t care if it’s impractical, he’s obviously bought into the left’s Climate Change malarkey! . . . If China and Russia both make their citizens buy in, then so will I. Until then, HECK NO!

FedUp
FedUp
1 year ago

Lets not forget that with an EV, ALL mileage estimates are based on computer models where things like added weight in the vehicle (like a driver and passenger), going up hill, road friction, cross/head winds, and cold (especially) ALL reduce the projected mileage.
I read a study comparing two trucks towing a boat. One electric, one gas. The gas truck finished the several hundred mile towing challenge with one fill-up. The electric had to stop and recharge just about every hour and after about 12 hours, gave up the challenge.
Welcome to EV world

Cindy Hayes
Cindy Hayes
1 year ago

They do this on purpose. It’s about slowing transit of food and necessities so they can destroy us faster. The Global Green Ponzi Scheme was created in the corrupt weaponized UN to destroy the economies of the world for their King/Surf program. Been studying it for over 6 years.
They can’t control us while we are armed, have reliable energy and follow our Constitution. It’s the legislature, not the bureaucracies, that make these kind of law/regulations. They are doing what Americans allow them to do.
One wonders why our installed Dem Louisiana Governor was able to use his subsidies to place tons of EV charging stations leading to one of the largest bass fishing destinations in the country. We look at them every time we gas up our trucks and the bass boats they haul. It takes us 3 hours to get there, so…
They are still in new and unused condition if any of the state’s with Faux Greeners & their EV’s want them. Holler at our new Conservative Governor who will be voted in, in October. Our installed Dem Governor (we are on the Kentucky plan) who knows this is all a scam, will be working in Green once he departs office since that’s where all our taxpaying money is going.

Granny26
Granny26
1 year ago

I will never buy an EV and Newscum can kiss my a**. They’re too expensive, not reliable and have seen too many catch fire. Maybe he’ll drive one instead of taking a jet everywhere??

Sean Rickman
Sean Rickman
1 year ago

It’s a fact,AMERICA is divided,it is divided by patriots and entities that want to destroy AMERICA.Maybe it’s time to physically divide our country and give the liberal,socialist,marxist,ETC.entities their own part of AMERICA to destroy and let the rest of us live a normal PRO AMERICAN patriotic life.AMERICANS do get tired of the liberal whining and bashing of AMERICA.

Tom Nichols
Tom Nichols
1 year ago

I just can’t believe we’re going through all this asinine BS for a stupid cause like man-made climate change that doesn’t even exist. It’s a fairy tale. Hundreds of climate scientists have all said this. Man cannot possibly affect the weather. It’s all a lie by the New World Order idiots as a ruse to try to control all of us. It’s high time for a major rebellion.

William R Wajert
William R Wajert
1 year ago

It’s just a racket since man cannot affect the climate!!!!!

JamesP.
JamesP.
1 year ago

I will never buy an EV vehicle. But wouldn’t it be easier to go to hybrid vehicles(gas and electric) and then transition to full ev when technology catches up? Just curious. Asking for a friend.

Robert Zuccaro
Robert Zuccaro
1 year ago

California: you voted for it, ENJOY! (The first state to secede us where I will move to; I’m betting it will be Texas due to the feds disregard of border security. A house divided? I say this house is doomed!)

Stephen Russell
Stephen Russell
1 year ago

EV Issues:
Range
Insurance
battery fires
Charging time
No charging system nationwide
No AAA Road service
LockedIn/Out
Stalling midway when having power (UK)

Newday
Newday
1 year ago

It’s not impractical or inconvenient for Newsom, or Biden or Pelosi, progressives, etc because they do not “work for a living wage”. They are only interested in telling other people what to do with no regard to human suffering( the open boarders and soft on crime, inflation,etc). If you can’t afford their regulations then you are expendable. They are some of the biggest hypocrites that I have ever seen.

patriot
patriot
1 year ago

Inventors and engineers gave America the auto and the trucks to carry cargo long distances. Today, America has a senile old politician dictating that we park all gasoline powered vehicles and switch to all Electric Vehicles with batteries made by China and charged with Chinese made wind turbines (when there is wind) or Chinese made Solar Panels (when there is Sunlight). And now the senile old Bidum is supporting the UAW’s strike for a 40% pay increase, for jobs that are disappearing with the Electric Vehicles that very few are buying! What could possibly go even more wrong?? Maybe the 7 million illegals so far and counting, who have invaded across our border. That’s also millions of American jobs, gone!

CarlS
CarlS
1 year ago

Building a space ship to mars is a great idea. I have just the group that should be on it. Maybe not it, we’d have to have thousands of them made with batteries.

Jay Richards
Jay Richards
1 year ago

Business Opportunity. Buy one electric truck to pull trailers out of the ports and rail yards. Drop trailer outside gate. Hook trailer to diesel truck and go. Then send electric truck back in to get another trailer. Repeat. Would also make it faster getting into ports because it will always be the same driver and truck. Helps with security issues. Problem solved.

legally present
legally present
1 year ago

Don’t pick up anything in California, let it sit there and rot. No one can afford this,

Gerald
Gerald
1 year ago

California has is all back-wards. DON’T start with the NECESSARY parts of ‘life as we know it’ (land transportation of food). They should start with the UnNecessary parts of life, like the luxury cruise ships, which pollute the environment many times more than land transportation. Let the wealthy liberals get stranded out in the ocean waiting for fast charger hook-up (or a school of hungry sharks that might arrive first).

Freudosa
Freudosa
1 year ago

Sounds like there will be no trucks in California. That’ll be fun if nothing is brought in.

Moonpup
Moonpup
1 year ago

As far as regular vehicles, in August of this year, “New car inventory on dealer lots is sitting at about a 54 days’ supply, according to Cox Automotive. But for electric vehicles, that number is almost two times as much, with 92.2 days’ supply at dealerships — up 343% from a year ago.”

johnh
johnh
1 year ago

Can anyone answer this question, how much electric power does the state of Cal. produce vs. how much it consumes per day or year. It seems to me that state of Cal. does not produce that much but gets the majority of electric power from the Grid system & that power is from other states that know the importance of energy independence in USA.

Frank Snell
Frank Snell
1 year ago

Is Newsom driving an electric vehicle, are the White House fleets of Cadillac Escalades all electric? Is Newsom going out to dinner at the French Laundry during a statewide Covid lockdown,
Oh, I forget, the rules are for the little people, not for the elite.
China is building 2 Coal powered Electric Plant PER WEEK since, as a third world country, they are exempt from “Climate Change(sic)” rules

Kyle Buy you some guns,and learn how to shoot
Kyle Buy you some guns,and learn how to shoot
1 year ago

Great article. Would like a4ticle on charging station’s. At this point ,you will never see enough power to charge these things. Good idea ,but now is not the time. Lake goes down,not enough water to generate. Then what. Yep ,Calif. is the land of fruits and nuts. The nuts have it rite now. Kyle L.

Daniel Penny
biden and harris speaking in black and white
A row of supercomputers running simulations of quantum cryptography algorithms to test their efficiency and effectiveness
President Joe Biden, son Hunter Biden and sister Valerie Biden walk across the South Lawn of The White House on July 28, 2024 in Washington, DC. President Biden is returning from a weekend trip to Camp David. (Photo by Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images)

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