WASHINGTON — As the Republican campaign to halt ambitious electric vehicle policies mostly spotlighted the cars and light trucks in personal garages and driveways across the country, a less-discussed part of the auto industry celebrated a center-stage moment last month.

"The trucking industry has America's back, and we are grateful that a president and the administration ... have our back too," veteran driver Gina Jones said at a June 12 White House event. President Donald Trump invited her to speak at a bill signing ceremony to cancel California's influential, strictest-in-the-nation emissions standards.

Jones, who has professionally driven over a million miles, spoke proudly on behalf of an industry that strongly lobbied against the environmental standards. California and states that voluntarily adopted identical rules had sought to quickly curb the trucking business's sizable contribution to planet-warming emissions.

To do so, the Golden State rules would have forced a transition to EVs across all segments of the auto industry more quickly than critics say the market is ready for. But the impact on medium and heavy-duty vehicles — woven into the fabric of American life through delivery vans, firetrucks, cement mixers, tractor trailers and more — might have been especially pronounced.

Chris Spear, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, said he felt "just tremendous relief" when Congress and Trump canceled the rules, which he called "not even within the realm of possibility."

Environmentalists have taken a different stance, suggesting that California regulators worked with businesses in crafting the rules and were always prepared to be flexible in the face of market realities.

"Congressional Republicans and the (Trump) administration taking a sledgehammer to these regulations ... really doesn't reflect the engagement and stakeholder process that was happening," said Guillermo Ortiz, a clean vehicles advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

He added: "We were hitting the gas and accelerating innovation here in the United States, but then they slammed the brakes so hard, it's giving everyone whiplash."

Rules and classes

Spear's relief came after lawmakers controversially nixed two key federal waivers that allowed California to restrict emissions for medium and heavy-duty vehicles significantly more than federal standards.

One waiver granted in March 2023 allowed California's Advanced Clean Trucks regulation, which required zero-emission trucks to make up between 40% and 75% of all new model sales by 2035, depending on vehicle class. The rules defined ZEVs as fully battery-electric vehicles or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which remain a barely available technology.

The other waiver, granted in December 2024, allowed the state's Heavy-Duty Low NOx Omnibus regulation to take effect. That rule would have required significant reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxides, a precursor to smog.

While sales of light-duty EVs have hovered around 10% of the national new vehicle market for the past two years, the transition to electric powertrains among heavier trucks and work vehicles has been slower. In some weight classes, according to data from the American Truck Dealers trade group, market share is yet to surpass 0.1%.

"We have to be in a position to actually achieve the targets and timelines that are put in these requirements, and the only way that happens is if they reflect reality," said Spear, a former executive for Hyundai Motor Co. "And we didn't feel that a lot of the targets and timelines that California put forth did that."

Ortiz, who strongly supported the rules, acknowledged that there would be different challenges for electrification across the highly varied medium and heavy-duty vehicle spectrum. E-commerce and delivery companies have already made significant deployments and purchase orders for vans, while long-haul trucking and other kinds of work vehicles have seen slower adoption.

American companies and public entities have committed to deploying close to 260,000 Class 2B and 3 electric cargo delivery vans into the next decade, according to a tracker compiled by the Environmental Defense Fund. The commitments for Class 7 and 8 tractor trucks total about 9,900.

The cargo category includes major commitments from e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. and fleet management business Merchants Fleet. Amazon has committed to deploying 100,000 vans from EV startup Rivian Automotive Inc. by 2030, while Merchants Fleet has committed to about 30,000 total electric vans from General Motors Co.'s BrightDrop line and Stellantis NV's Ram brand.

The largest Class 8 truck commitment also came from Amazon, which committed to buying 1,250 electric Lion8 trucks from Volvo Cars with a target deployment later this year.

Ortiz said the rules were designed to account for different paces of electrification for each weight class. He also said that California, in response to current market conditions, was in the process of adjusting rules to allow credit trading across segments and participating states.

"No one wants a rule that fundamentally doesn't work or is destined to fail," he said. Those added flexibilities would have required federal signoff, however, which was always unlikely under a Trump administration that wanted to ditch the rules entirely.

Still, Ortiz noted, all vehicle classes have met their required targets so far in California. Notably, about 19.7% of new Class 2 vehicle registrations in the state last year were electric, well above mandated levels.

But the trucking industry has described an alarming situation for California sellers as a result. Sales in some segments fell by about 50% in 2024, according to the American Truck Dealers trade group.

Jacqueline Gelb, president of the group, said there was a "significant market disruption" in the state due to compliance pressures. She explained that there was limited ZEV truck demand from customers. In turn, that limited how many diesel-powered vehicles dealers could sell due to the sales percentage rules.

"At the end of the day, California became a used truck market instead of a new truck market," she said.

Inside the lobbying push

President Trump, at the ceremony to sign the legislation canceling the California rules, acknowledged controversy surrounding the move.

"People said it couldn't be done. You got it done," he said. "But boy, it's been — it's had us tied up in knots for years."

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, congressional Republicans and conservative lawyers broke with precedent and typical parliamentary procedure to use the Congressional Review Act to revoke the Biden-era waivers.

Throughout the process, they were cheered on by lobbyists like the Trucking Associations' Spear, who pleaded to lawmakers about "common sense" and the potential harms to a key national sector. He noted that the trucking industry represents 4% of vehicles on the road in the United States but moves approximately 73% of all freight.

"I don't think our message was really geared toward Republicans or Democrats," he said in a phone interview. Spear said he started lobbying pitches by explaining his industry's past environmental progress.

"Because of our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint, and because of 40 years of work, we've reduced emissions coming out of (heavy-duty truck) tailpipes by 98.5% since 1988," Spear said. "That's some really powerful and compelling numbers."

He also pointed out that five states previously aligned with California's trucking regulations cancelled or eased enforcement for the next several years as businesses face significant cost and implementation hurdles.

"You're looking at over $400,000 per electric tractor to replace a $125,000 (diesel) tractor. So that's a big impediment, especially for the medium and small-sized companies," he said. "And that's assuming you've got the charging infrastructure in place to plug into."

Spear continued: "We don't even have that available for cars, and we definitely don't have it for trucks. We're talking a lot of power."

The trucking lobbyist also said that ire from some federal regulators was also key in his lobbying push: "There was a lot of frustration within the careerist ranks at EPA that they were being told to sit on their hands, grant these waivers and let California take the lead."

The NRDC's Ortiz blasted Spear's messages on past emissions progress.

"I always think it's funny when they're like, 'Hey, we've done a lot of good stuff on the environment, so let's do less good on the environment right now,'" he said. "It ignores the fact that all the progress they're citing is because of regulations on the books that made them do it."

Ortiz also pointed out lower life expectancies near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — the nation's two busiest seaports — that are due in part to significant air pollution in the area. "How long should those communities wait for clean air?" he asked.

The environmental advocate also argued against the industry's talking points on price. Ortiz said that regulations requiring more electric truck production would create economies of scale, significantly reducing the sticker prices on new models over time. He noted, too, that there would be lower total costs of ownership for EVs that require less maintenance and upkeep over time.

But those arguments, at least for now, are moot with Trump and other Republicans in control of the federal government.

Looking ahead

The National Fleet Management Association, a trade group representing thousands of public and private entities with work vehicle fleets, said it expects EVs to eventually dominate among its membership.

"The technology trend is pretty clear that EVs are going to be a preferred option for a lot of both consumers and fleets going forward," said Michael Parr, the group's legislative counsel. "But maybe just not as fast as we thought."

The association has not taken a formal position on the California rules. Instead, Parr said the group has opted to stay out of the political fray and help "everybody move forward simultaneously" amid "crosswinds" in Washington.

Those crosswinds, he said, include congressional Republicans' massive tax and spending bill that "largely lays waste to a full suite of clean energy and transportation tax credits," a legal battle over the now-cancelled California rules, potential changes to federal emissions standards and more.

Maria Neve, the group's board president, said there are several reasons why medium and heavy-duty electrification will continue even without the California rules, albeit at a slower pace.

She cited an existing investment pipeline from automakers into EVs and the fact that many U.S. businesses have parent companies that operate in a European market where ambitious heavy-duty emissions standards remain in place. Neve also noted that "it's just a heck of a lot cheaper to run an EV over the course of its lifetime."

"Private industry is taking some of this momentum and pushing it forward," she added. "It's a shame that some of the governmental push is being reduced, but there's no stopping this particular train right now."

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