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Could Industry and Political Pushback Kill the EPA’s Electric Truck Plans?
PJ Media ^ | 05/31/2023 | Chris Queen

Posted on 05/31/2023 8:48:34 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

It’s a well-established fact that the Biden administration thinks that electric vehicles are the solution to everything. (Ring around the collar? Buy an EV. Troubles in the bedroom? Buy an EV. Thinning hair? You get the picture.) So it shouldn’t surprise any of us that the administration has decided that what the trucking industry needs most is a great big transition to electric trucks.

Last month, we reported about how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking to follow California’s lead in declaring war on diesel vehicles. At the time, many in the trucking industry expressed their dismay at the EPA allowing California to hold the rest of the country hostage regarding overblown climate concerns.

“By granting California’s waiver for its so-called ‘advanced clean trucks’ rule, the EPA is handing over the keys as a national regulator,” Chris Spear, CEO of the American Trucking Associations, said at the time. “This isn’t the United States of California, and in order to mollify a never satisfied fringe environmental lobby by allowing the state to proceed with these technologically infeasible rules on unworkable and unrealistic timelines, the EPA is sowing the ground for a future supply chain crisis.”

The EPA proposal includes more stringent regulations on trucks beginning with the 2027 model year, even more regulations beginning in 2028, and tightening those regulations even more beginning in 2032. And, of course, the agency wants all new trucks to be zero-emission vehicles (in other words, battery-powered) starting in 2045.

The trucking industry and outlets that cover logistics have been quick to decry the EPA’s proposal. Freightwaves pointed out how detrimental the electric truck mandate could be for the industry.

“Cost has been emphasized as a big impediment. A new all-electric costs over $400,000 today, versus a new diesel truck in the $150,000 range,”

(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: automotive; electric; epa; ev; infrastructure; regulations; supply; trucking
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Naturally, trucking companies and suppliers would pass on those additional costs to consumers, and the weight limits and long charging times could put even more strain on the supply chain. Another one of the most crucial factors is that some states are already having trouble with their electric grids keeping up with the strain of more electric passenger vehicles. What would a switch to electric trucks do to these power grids? What would the switch do to drivers?
1 posted on 05/31/2023 8:48:34 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Unexpected Government bankruptcy, bloated debt, inflation and stagnant wages will kill the entire “green-energy transition” first.


2 posted on 05/31/2023 8:50:56 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: SeekAndFind

More like their plans will ruined by reality.


3 posted on 05/31/2023 8:52:48 AM PDT by GMMC0987
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To: SeekAndFind
There is no such thing as a 'Zero Emission' vehicle. The 'emissions' are just moved from the tailpipe to the smokestack......................
4 posted on 05/31/2023 8:56:51 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger
The 'emissions' are just moved from the tailpipe to the smokestack......................

Inefficiently I might add.

5 posted on 05/31/2023 8:58:49 AM PDT by Sirius Lee (They intend to murder us. Prep if you want to live and live like you are prepping for eternal life)
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To: Sirius Lee

Ohm’s Law must be repealed!.......................


6 posted on 05/31/2023 9:01:09 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

It’s just not generation but also distribution of the electricity. Many locations do not have sufficient voltages and amps to allow Super Chargers that large trucks would require.


7 posted on 05/31/2023 9:03:44 AM PDT by Lockbox (politicians, they all seemed like game show hosts to me.... Sting)
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To: SeekAndFind

Maybe REALITY will kill it?


8 posted on 05/31/2023 9:04:33 AM PDT by MMusson
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To: SeekAndFind

Imagine the size of the batteries on an 18 wheeler! A third of your cargo space will be batteries.
Imagine how long it would take to charge them.
Imagine the hundreds of billions of dollars needed to build charging infrastructure.
Imagine the reduced loads in the trucks because they are hauling around all those batteries.
Imagine the thousands of truck drivers wasting their time waiting for their trucks to recharge.

Imagine all the new business for the “working girls” hanging around truck stops.


9 posted on 05/31/2023 9:06:52 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (I don’t like to think before I say something...I want to be just as surprised as everyone else.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Reality killed the green cat.


10 posted on 05/31/2023 9:07:43 AM PDT by blackdog ((Z28.310) My dog Sam eats purple flowers.)
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To: SeekAndFind

What about the cost of rebuilding/repairing the roads to carry the very heavy batteries?


11 posted on 05/31/2023 9:08:46 AM PDT by CenTex (November 6, 2012 & August 31, 2021... Days that will live in infamy!!! )
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To: SeekAndFind
The marketplace will kill these idiocies. “Invisible hands” always surprise those who refuse the notion that the marketplace will NOT be governed from the top down.
12 posted on 05/31/2023 9:09:49 AM PDT by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: CenTex

Weight limits are still in place, they just have to carry less cargo, increasing the costs per pound exponentially.


13 posted on 05/31/2023 9:23:33 AM PDT by Jotmo (Whoever said, "The pen is mightier than the sword." has clearly never been stabbed to death.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

...and imagine all the slave children needed to mine the minerals for the truck batteries.


14 posted on 05/31/2023 9:24:15 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: SeekAndFind

Tesla says their electric semi has a 900 kWh battery. To fully charge it in say, 45 minutes would mean an electrical demand of around 1,000 kW. For EACH charging station. So a typical electric truck stop with 10 charging stations could potentially hit the grid with 10 MW of demand should all of the stations be in use. That’s equivalent to a large factory.


15 posted on 05/31/2023 9:25:21 AM PDT by technically right
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To: T.B. Yoits

...and imagine all the millions of tons of toxic worn-out batteries going into landfills. They’ll nestle nicely among the millions of tons of worn-out fiberglass windmill blades and millions of tons of worn-out solar panels.


16 posted on 05/31/2023 9:35:22 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (I don’t like to think before I say something...I want to be just as surprised as everyone else.)
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To: PGR88

Something has to crush “The Transition” or we are Obama’d up as a country.


17 posted on 05/31/2023 9:45:38 AM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: SeekAndFind

On-board Diesel-generated electricity might work, works just fine for railroad locomotives.

Electric motors to each wheel on the transportation vehicle would make the three to five axle articulated semi-trucks more efficient in converting the energy in a Diesel-powered system into motive power for over the road movement. With computer control of wheel rotation in relation to the differing torque requirements of each wheel, most of the components that now exist in the drive train of semi trucks could be eliminated or vastly simplified. No differentials, no clumsy and highly complicated transmission designs, and improved potential for individual suspension springing of each wheel calibrated to the load it is bearing.

There is actually no requirement that a Diesel ICE engine be the primary power source. Any engine design that uses a heat differential to extract energy from heat to create rotary motion would do just fine. Stirling heat cycle engine, steam engine, or even a nuclear reactor to provide the necessary heat, rather than to use hydrocarbon fuels.


18 posted on 05/31/2023 9:52:12 AM PDT by alloysteel (Fiction has to be at least plausible, while reality obeys no such constraint.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I believe gas will still be here for the foreseeable future. Our local city is building two new huge gas stations on both sides of town, and Walmart is redoing their big station.


19 posted on 05/31/2023 10:06:41 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (“No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”)
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To: CenTex

AND no fossil fuels to make blacktop.


20 posted on 05/31/2023 10:27:56 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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