[Jobin]

"The plan aims to transform trucking and shipping in the Golden State to zero-emission technologies by 2050...One of the milestones comes in 2030 when California wants 100,000 freight zero-emission or near-zero-emission trucks and industrial vehicles in operation." (Link to article)

Seems like California plus Washington D.C., Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont are all on board. What are everybody's thoughts on this?

[One]

How long did it take us to get to the moon? I think we can manage to implement an alternate power source for vehicles in 34 years. For all we know by that time the trucking industry will not exist and have been replaced by the teleportation industry or the replication industry. Talking about zero emissions by 2050 is completely pointless.

[GMAN]

Personally, I think the government needs to get out of the business of dictating emissions and do what they are constitutionally mandated to do. California has made a mess of their CARB rules, which are based upon manipulated science. They know they are erroneous but refuse to change their rulings on the issue. The current emission rules for big trucks is a failure. Engines are less efficient and have been problematic from the beginning. New trucks are spending about as much time in the shop as running. When the government mandated certain emissions standards, they relied on false science and did not take in consideration the time it would take for manufacturers to comply. So, in order to avoid huge fines for non compliance, manufacturers rushed to meet deadlines imposed by the government and forced CAT out of the otr engine market. Bureaucrats get involved in these decisions with no accountability and make unreasonable demands on manufacturers that make it next to impossible for them to meet them.

[Mr. Ford95]

I don't necessarily mind this. We are already on that path with both trucks and passenger vehicles. Formula 1 technology has already been implemented by vehicle manufacturers across the globe. This is tech that is less than 10 years old, some of it is less than 5 years old. If KERS starts becoming mainstream usage in vehicles, emissions go even further down. It takes brake usage, the heat, and stores it in a battery for usage later when you need power to get going again. We got Prius and others going with solar power in their hybrid system too. Making the roof a solar panel. Using lighter materials where possible in order to cut back the large engines. Turbos are becoming mainstream on small gasoline cars. My wife's car is the same 2.2 but it gets 5 mpg better due to a small turbo on the car now vs the old car. Why not transfer this tech to trucks? And One is correct, by 2050, it might be all autonomous, all electric vehicles by then.

We got an airplane circling the globe on solar power only........yeah its slower than snot, 16 hours to fly from San Fran to Phoenix, a trip by car is 12 hours........but, tech advances over the next 30 years could cut that trip down to say 5 hours or better with zero emissions........why ignore it?

Imagine that solar plane tech going into trucks and cars. Imagine and world where you never have to stop and sit in a fuel island line for 2 hours! 2 hours more time to drive and make more money in your pocket!