Our Take, With Doug Sheridan

Trouble is, truckers aren’t buying electric big rigs because they can’t afford them even with $40,000 in federal tax credits.

The WSJ Editorial Board writes, want to know how the Biden-Harris EV mandate—which they claim isn’t a mandate—will work in practice? Look no further than California where, auto dealers are restricting sales of diesel-powered trucks to meet the state’s EV rules.

This news came in a public comment filed by the National Automobile Dealers Association with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding California’s Advanced Clean Fleets rule. The regulation says “zero-emission” trucks must be a growing share of semi-truck fleet sales. California imposes a similar mandate for passenger cars.

Trouble is, truckers aren’t buying electric big rigs because they can’t afford them even with $40,000 in federal tax credits. Electric trucks cost twice as much as diesel-powered rigs and have a limited driving range—150 miles on average, compared to between 1,000 and 1,500 for diesel trucks. There are also few truck charging stations.

Yet under California’s rules, “dealers are restricted from selling a diesel truck unless they sell a ZEV truck,” the dealer group reports. The result—“New class 8 truck sales (ZEV and Diesel) were down 50% year-over-year in June 2024.” Truckers are driving older engines longer because they can’t buy newer diesel models, which results in more pollution.

Dealers say trucks are piling up on their lots—electric models because truckers won’t buy them, and diesel rigs that dealers consequently aren’t allowed to sell. Dealers say they incur monthly interest penalties on unsold truck inventory that can amount to more than $99,000.

“Without significant modifications, there is a very real likelihood that some dealers and their customers will start going out of business in the near future. This will hit small businesses the hardest,” the dealers write. Harris vows to support small businesses, but the Admin's vehicle GHG emissions rules will slam mom-and-pop dealers.

Manufacturers will have no choice but to produce more EVs to comply, and if EVs don’t sell, sales of gas-powered cars will have to be restricted. This is a back-door ban on gas-powered cars, even if Harris won’t admit it.

Our Take: The lock down of sales of petroleum-fueled trucks and automobiles isn't a bug in the Biden admin's energy policy. No, no. It's a feature. So are mamy other negative ripples from its energy policy... from the crowding out of gas-fired generation on our grids to the rising cost and falling reliability of electricity to the slow crippling of carbon-intensive industries like steel and aluminum. It's all intended.