“Amid the uncertainty, I want to affirm that one thing is certain: the California Air Resources Board and the [Newsom] administration will defend our clean air and climate protection programs from these attacks,” Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), said during the Feb. 26 meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies in Sacramento. “The law is on our side, science is on our side and the public is on our side.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking to have Congress consider waivers that let California set its own air protection standards and rules. The state has historically had some of the most polluted air in the nation. The federal government has allowed California to set its own — more stringent — standards, and has allowed other states to adopt the California policies. These, generally, have increased vehicle fuel efficiency, generated incentives and infrastructure to advance the adoption of electric vehicles, and established environmental justice programs to address increased levels of pollution in some of the state’s poorest communities.
Given that California is such a large vehicle market, its vehicle efficiency standards “have massive impacts and costs across the entire United States,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement, indicating these make the state the de facto market standard setter for the car industry across the United States.
Committee Chair Jacqui Irwin, a member of the California state Assembly, said leaders will not be deterred by attempts to sideline the state’s climate action.
“If anything, having an unreliable, and at times hostile, federal government makes it all the more important that California continue to lead on climate. But we must do so thoughtfully,” Irwin said during the meeting.
State initiatives moving forward include the California Clean Mobility Options (CMO) program, administered by CARB and funded by the California Energy Commission (CEC) and California Climate Investments. CMO recently announced $33 million in awards to address air pollution and clean transportation in low-income communities.
The program is funding projects like an all-electric on-demand shuttle service in Costa Mesa, connecting destinations like transit facilities, health-care providers and grocery stores. Other recipients include the San Jose neighborhoods of Mayfair and East San Jose, which will launch “!Bikeshare en Mayfair!” All told, 17 communities received funding, receiving grants up to $1.5 million each.
Policy initiatives drafted by CARB like Advanced Clean Trucks and the Advanced Clean Fleets rule have placed the state on a march to phase out fossil fuel-burning trucks. Drayage trucks operating along corridors with heavy truck traffic will need to be zero-emission by 2035.
Greenlane, a maker of heavy-duty electric vehicle charging infrastructure — deployed on its Interstate 15 Commercial EV Charging Corridor — on Monday debuted new technology to make charging easier and more seamless for truck operators. The Greenlane Driver App supplies real-time location-based data related to charging locations and availability, while the Greenlane Fleet portal is designed for fleet operators, allowing them to maximize the operational capabilities of an electric truck with route-planning and charge management. Truck telematics data is integrated into the Greenlane system, which uses artificial intelligence to improve overall operations, Raj Jhaveri, Greenlane chief technology officer, said.
“This minimizes the guesswork for fleet managers in determining the optimal charge time or energy requirements for each route,” he explained in a statement. “Our technology helps maximize uptime and operational efficiency by ensuring vehicles are charged efficiently and ready to meet the demands of their freight schedules.”
Other states have indicated they are not pulling back on electric vehicle (EV) adoption efforts. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is committing $500 million toward helping schools districts transition their fleets to EVs, said Doreen M. Harris, the organization’s president and CEO. NYSERDA also manages programs like Charge Ready NY 2.0, which offers incentives of up to $2,500 per plug to advance various forms of charging infrastructure for areas including multifamily housing projects, workplaces and disadvantaged communities. The Empire State has also adopted policies similar to those in California, to drive the transition of fleets and trucks to zero-emission vehicles.
“I’d say a large portion of those are electric pickup trucks, but we do see short-haul electrification occurring ever more so,” Harris said during a Feb. 27 panel organized by Veloz, an EV policy and advocacy group based in Sacramento. “That’s part of NYSERDA’s job. We are an innovation shop. That’s what we were born to be 50 years ago when we were formed. Really, this is where we have advanced a number of pilots across our state really to begin the process of demonstrating what is possible.”
