Most fleet operators have heard of the California Air Resource Board (CARB)’s Advanced Clean Fleet (ACF) regulation by now. It’s a regulation that coincides with the earlier adopted Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) initiative and aims to accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs).
If your fleet is impacted by California ACF and you fail to comply, you could be faced with penalties, up to $10,000 per vehicle, per day. To help breakdown the ACF regulation and its corresponding milestones, continue reading.
Which Fleets are Impacted by California ACF?
Simply put, ACF will impact commercial and public fleets that operate in California. More specifically, ACF will impact the following fleet types:
*High-priority fleets include any vehicles—even one—that drive on California roads, even if the vehicle is registered elsewhere. This will ensure out-of-state operators still comply with ACF.
When Does California ACF Go Into Effect?
While the ACF regulation went into effect in January 2024, important milestones that impact more fleet operators are coming quickly. Ensuring you comply with the following list will minimize future potential penalties.
High Priority Fleets: 2025 – 2042
High priority and federal fleets must remove internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles at the end of their useful life starting in January 2025, known as the Model Year Schedule.
High priority fleets also have the ZEV Milestone Option, which states fleet owners may meet targets as a percentage of the total fleet following this breakdown shared by CARB:
Note that the above represents the total percentage of ZEVs each Group must operate by the corresponding year. For example, by 2025, 10% of Group 1’s operated vehicles must be emissions-free.
Government Fleets: 2027
100% of government fleet vehicle purchases must be zero-emissions.
Both state and local government fleet owners may also follow the same ZEV Milestone Option breakdown as high priority fleets above.
Small Government Fleets: 2027
Small government fleets (fewer than 10 vehicles or in a designated low population county) must begin purchasing ZEVs.
Drayage Fleets: 2035
Drayage trucks entering seaports or intermodal railyards must be transitioned to ZEVs.
Federal Fleets: 2035
100% of high-priority and federal fleet vehicle purchases must be ZEVs.
Vehicle Manufacturers: 2036
Vehicle manufacturers may only sell zero-emissions medium- and heavy-duty ZEVs.
While some of these dates may feel far away, it’s important for fleet operators to start planning right now to avoid mandate penalties.
Why Fleet Operators Need to Plan for ACF Right Now
While the immediate impact of ACF may seem limited for some fleet operators, the long-term consequences of failing to plan and prepare for the transition to ZEVs will be significant.
Fleet operators that drag their feet on getting started may face the following challenges.
Missed Incentives
There is “free money” on the table to help fleet operators subsidize the upfront costs to transition to ZEVs. Incentives are currently available across utility rebates, state and federal grants, tax credits, and low carbon fuel credits.
This clip from our webinar “Laying a Strategic Fleet Electrification Infrastructure Plan” talks about why it’s important to act immediately on incentives:
Infrastructure Delays
Anyone who has ever been part of a construction project knows they can take months to years to complete. And installing EV charging infrastructure is no different.
Charging installation projects can take anywhere from two months to two years (or more) from planning to installation, depending on existing infrastructure, vehicle operations, and space at physical locations. Projects are also often at the mercy of equipment lead time and availability and how quickly local utilities can bring power to a site.
If your fleet falls into one of the impacted categories mentioned above, and you know EVs will be required in the future, it’s best to take a “cart before the horse” approach. Otherwise, when those electrified vehicles arrive, you’ll have nowhere to charge them on-site, halting your fleet operations.
Installation Challenges
Even if a charging installation project is going exactly to plan, fleet operators still need to consider various factors for the actual installation, such as X or Y. These factors can often impact day-to-day operations. And if you’re rushing to meet a regulation deadline, this could have unnecssary impacts to your operations.
Here’s a clip from our webinar that dives further into these considerations:
Click here to watch an on-demand version of our infrastructure strategy webinar.
Operational Challenges
The transition to an electrified fleet can absolutely be met with operational challenges. And the sooner fleet operators begin electrifying, the more time they will have to work out operational kinks before they’re up against the clock to meet regulation milestones.
Consider just a few of the operational needs that are common with electrification:
Rushing any of the above can put your operations in a critically vulnerable position.
How Can Fleet Operators Start Meeting California ACF Requirements Early?
Crafting a fleet electrification strategy requires careful planning that begins with your business objectives. A haphazard strategy that is rushed simply to meet ACF’s looming deadlines can lead to high costs for expedited deployment, infrastructure permitting and utility hurdles, lost opportunities to reduce upfront costs, and much more.
Some fleet operators are also putting a lot of hope into regulation delays. While ACF has been met with opposition and lawsuits, those will likely only delay these milestones for a limited time. California ACF will be here to stay and the sooner you get started, the more time you have before penalties are imposed.
SitelogIQ is your one-stop partner for all phases of electrification infrastructure projects and helps fleet operators deploy centrally managed electrification infrastructure strategies. Our team works hands-on with you from design through installation to warranty management and results tracking. We tailor a solution based on your current layout, charging capacity, number of charging ports needed, utility requirements, state and local mandates, accessibility requirements, financial needs, and more—both for right now and for future planning.
Let us help you get ahead of ACF deadlines. Let’s chat about your fleet electrification needs.