Raising the stakes on its green trucking agenda, California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) released an ambitious new zero-emissions truck manufacturing standard today that would require half of all medium and heavy-duty truck sales in California to be zero-emission vehicles.

The proposed regulation, years in the making, drew a predictable chorus of critics, with independent trucking groups saying it will impose burdensome costs and environmental groups arguing the targets aren’t strict enough to help meet state greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

“A 50% transformation is unrealistic in the next decade,” said Joe Rajkovacz, government affairs director for the Western States Trucking Associations.

“While we’ve been aware that environmentalists desire this type of transformation…there are practical issues such as there is absolutely nothing available in the marketplace currently proven to meet the performance requirements of the industry,” Rajkovacz added.

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