What Do Bans of Diesel and Gasoline Cars in Europe Mean for Trucking?

In the short term, new all-electric vehicle mandates from around the globe won’t affect North America much. But the long-term trendlines favoring electric vehicles seem clear. Photo: Scania

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Back in June, President Donald Trump shocked the world when he withdrew the United States from the Paris Accords – a multi-nation pact aimed at reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere and curbing rising global temperatures and subsequent climate change. Once those shockwaves had receded, the rest of the world pretty much shrugged its shoulders and went on its way without us. Since then, France, India, Norway and – just this week – Great Britain all announced plans to end the sale of gasoline- and diesel-powered passenger cars at various points in the future – usually around 20 years out. All told, at least 10 other countries have some type of mandates on the books aimed at eventually boosting electric vehicle sales and cutting emissions from gasoline and diesel engines.

At the moment, none of these announcements seem to affect medium- or heavy-duty trucks. There are simply operational realities with trucks that cannot be ignored. That said, it seems pretty clear that sooner or later these regulations will have an impact on the North American automotive and truck market. And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

First off, let’s note that I’m not looking for similar legislation in the U.S. any time soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if some individual cities go the gasoline/diesel route at some point, and the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are already knocking on the zero-emissions door for trucks. But outside of that, the vast distances we have to deal with in the U.S. and the lack of any kind of high-speed rail service dictates that our vehicles …Read the rest of this story

Source:: http://www.truckinginfo.com/blog/truck-tech/story/2017/07/an-electrical-end-run.aspx