Summary of Ricardo Webinar: How can California’s Advanced Clean Truck Regulation mandate be met on time? The Role of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology
Covered by Sarah King, CHBC Fellow
On September 21, global consulting firm Ricardo North America hosted the “How can California’s Advanced Clean Truck Regulation mandate be met on time? The Role of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology” webinar in conjunction with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and California Hydrogen Business Council (CHBC). Rob Del Core, Assisant VP of Fuel Cell Technology & Strategy at Ricardo, Leslie Goodbody, engineer at CARB, and Bill Zobel, Executive Director of CHBC, joined to discuss CARB’s new California Advanced Clean Truck Regulation (CACTR) and offer details on how manufacturers can meet the regulation requirements.
CACTR will work to transition medium- and heavy-duty Class 2b to Class 8 vehicles to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by requiring a certain percentage of all annual manufacturer sales to be zero-emission trucks, with the hopes of having all fleets transitioned to ZEVs by 2045 where feasible. This regulation will serve as an off-take for the renewable hydrogen industry, and is anticipated to grow the hydrogen economy considerably.
According to Goodbody, CACTR is projected to contribute $5.9 billion in net economic savings, and an additional $8.9 billion in health benefit savings. The regulation is estimated to create about 7,500 jobs in California and greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Goodbody also outlined a number of government funding avenues to help lead ZEVs into market scale deployment, including the Zero-Emission Drayage Truck Pilot Solicitation, Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP), Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust, Zero-Emission Class 8 Freight and Port Drayage Trucks, Carl Moyer Funding for Hydrogen Infrastructure, Vehicles, and Equipment, and Community Air Protection (CAP) Incentives.
Zobel discussed the hydrogen economy vision in California, how hydrogen will propel medium- and heavy-duty transportation to achieve the CACTR targets compared to battery electric vehicles, and the role CHBC plays in advancing the commercialization of hydrogen. Findings from Deloitte’s recent U.S. heavy-duty transit bus and drayage models were shared; costs of fuel cell electric vehicles, trucks, and infrastructure are expected to significantly decline by mid-late 2020s. Emphasis was placed on the need for vehicle and infrastructure incentives to enable large-scale adoption and smooth the transition to ZEVs, along with CHBCs efforts to facilitate a coordinated policy approach to drive the market.
Del Core rounded out the presentations with the work Ricardo is doing to understand the overlapping timelines of the CACTR requirements and fuel cell truck development and commercialization. Del Core mentioned that the companies in the worst position are the ones that have not yet started an electric platform expansion, and emphasized the need for these companies to begin developing battery and fuel cell electric vehicles in order to coincide with the CACTR timeline. Efficient regulatory rollout and technical advancement requires progressive action from truck operators, fuel cell stack suppliers, fuel cell modules suppliers, and truck OEMs. Fuel cell technology suppliers should refine stack and ensure system durability, performance, and volume; hydrogen suppliers should begin ramping up volume production; and operators should learn, evaluate, and embrace the technologies.