California zero emission heavy-duty tractor sales up 234% YoY

Zero-emission heavy-duty tractor sales in California increased in 2023 as manufacturers and dealers try to meet the state’s emission standards. 

Sales totaled 354 units, up 234% year over year, according to the Advance Clean Trucks report published by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on May 22. Heavy-duty zero-emission tractors include Class 7 and Class 8 tractors, or those that weigh more than 26,000 pounds. 

Medium-duty and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicle sales, ranging from Class 2b units, or over 8,500 pounds, to Class 8 units, totaled 18,473 units, up 130.7% YoY, according to a June 6 CARB release. With all medium-duty and heavy-duty commercial vehicles combined, California exceeds zero emission vehicle targets, CARB Chair Liane Randolph said in the release. 

“The market is stepping up to be part of the solution for cleaner air and climate action well ahead of required targets,” she said. “The data shows that the future is zero emissions and that fleets are finding value in making the switch early.”

Heavy-duty zero emission tractors trailing 

While California’s zero-emission tractor sales continue to grow, current sales represent 2.8% of the state’s total tractor sales ahead of CARB’s 2027 mandates, which adopt the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s updated nitrous oxides [NOx] emissions standards to combat the poisonous gas and require state and local governments to purchase zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles for all fleets. 

With such a low margin of zero-emission tractor sales, there’s the risk of supply shortages heading into 2027, Brian Antonellis, senior vice president of fleet operations at Fleet Advantage, previously told Equipment Finance News.   

Meanwhile, the current Class 8 EV tractor annual total cost to transport in California is approximately 94%, or about $315,000 higher compared to Class 8 diesel tractors, according to Ryder System’s May 8 qualitative analysis of the market. The largest contributor to the difference in total cost to transport is equipment cost, which represents an increase of approximately 500% compared to the current equipment cost in California. 

The total cost to transport also accounts for a publicly available commercial charging network, which does not currently exist, Darren Epps, senior director of advanced vehicle technology at Ryder, told EFN. The lack of infrastructure further complicates the adoption of electric vehicles as CARB-compliant zero-emission vehicles.