Our team at Squire Patton Boggs continues to track recent regulatory developments for the heavy-duty vehicle and engine sector. In our last blog post on this topic, we covered US EPA’s Cleaner Trucks Initiative, the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB’s) heavy-duty engine and vehicle omnibus regulation, and CARB’s Advanced Clean Trucks Regulation.

US EPA Heavy-Duty Highway Vehicles Proposed Rule Comment Period Ends

For the on-road heavy-duty trucking industry, US EPA finally issued its long-awaited proposed rule on March 7, 2022 for heavy-duty highway vehicles and engines beginning in MY 2027. Heavy-duty highway vehicles are generally those in weight categories ranging between 8,500 lbs to greater than 33,000 lbs GVWR. The comment period recently ended on May 13, 2022. This rule, entitled Control of Air Pollution from New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Standards, 87 Fed. Reg. 17414 (March 28, 2022), is the first step in EPA’s “Clean Trucks Plan.”  As identified in President Biden’s Executive Order 14037, Strengthening American Leadership in Clean Cars and Trucks, EPA intends to issue a series of regulations over the next three years to reduce pollution from trucks and buses and to advance the transition to a zero-emissions transportation future.