CARB repeals Advanced Clean Fleets rules

Refuelling diesel truck (Photo: AdobeStock)

After not getting federal approval for a required waiver (the request was withdrawn) and in the face of lawsuits led by the state of Nebraska and the California Trucking Association, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has agreed to repeal the Advanced Clean Fleets rules.

Known colloquially as the ‘electric truck mandate’, the Advanced Clean Fleets rule would have made it a requirement for all drayage trucks operating in California to be zero direct emissions by 2035.

Any fleet with 50 or more vehicles or more than $50 million in annual revenue would have further needed to transition their entire fleet to electric trucks by 2042. The same rule would have applied to any out-of-state operators with only a single truck entering California.

In September 2025, a group of 25 Republican state attorneys general requested the US Environmental Protection Agency to deny the waiver requested by CARB. With it unlikely the Trump administration would grant the waiver, CARB withdrew its request, ending the Advanced Clean Fleets rule.

The Advanced Clean Fleets rule would have boosted the sale of zero-emissions trucks, particularly battery-electric models. Without the need to comply with related regulations, OEMs could struggle to sell those models.

CARB’s Truck and Bus Regulation which mandates that all diesel-powered vehicles with a GVWR of more than 14,000 lb (6,350 kg) operating in California must have a 2010 or later engine and emission system is still in effect.