TYSONS, Va. (March 29, 2024)—In response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles – Phase 3 issed on Friday, ATD President Laura Perrotta issued the following statement:

“American Truck Dealers (ATD) is opposed to EPA’s final Phase 3 GHG rule because it will have unprecedented negative impacts on American commercial trucking, large swaths of U.S. businesses, customers and consumers, and likely overall emissions and the environment.

“Less than 1% of commercial vehicle sales today are ZEVs, yet this rule sets overly aggressive electric truck targets on a short timeline that will not result in increased zero-emission truck sales and lowered GHG emissions but will have lasting negative consequences. The technology-forcing regulations and barriers to new-truck sales are enormous and are resulting in only one outcome: new trucks that commercial customers simply can’t afford, cannot reliably charge or utilize, and therefore won’t purchase. 

“The Phase 3 rule will only exacerbate this problem by further forcing commercial vehicle customers to hold on to existing fleets or purchase used trucks. Having older trucks remain on the road does nothing to save fuel, make our roads safer or reduce GHG emissions. 

“ATD supports sound policies that increase fuel efficiency and reduce GHGs for America’s trucks. Truck dealers are making enormous investments to sell and service EVs – to the tune of nearly $1 billion in just this decade. But commercial buyers have shown us that they are not ready to purchase ZEVs for a multitude of reasons. These include insufficient charging infrastructure – highlighted by a recent Roland Berger study released by the Clean Freight Coalition (CFC) –inefficiency of the vehicles caused by immense battery weight, prolonged time required to charge, lack of sufficient range, and affordability with today’s diesel class 8 going for $180,000 while a comparable electric truck costs over $400,000. This simply will not pencil out for our trucking industry."