In December 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) finalized new stringent emission standards to reduce nitrogen oxides and establish new standards for greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty engines under the Clean Trucks Plan. In December 2021, the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) adopted more stringent standards to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from heavy-duty trucks. Future strengthening of EPA, CARB or other federal or state regulatory requirements regarding fuel-efficiency or engine emissions of tractors could also result in increases in the cost of capital equipment and maintenance.
The CARB’s Advanced Clean Fleets (“ACF”) rule requires fleets to adopt an increasing percentage of zero emission trucks, complementing CARB’s Advanced Clean Trucks (“ACT”) rule. The ACF rule applies to high-priority fleets of 50 or more trucks, aiming to accelerate the transition to zero emission vehicles (“ZEVs”). The ACF rule offers the ZEV Milestones Option or the Model Year Schedule. We have elected the ZEV Milestones Option, which allows fleets to phase in ZEVs between 2025 and 2042, depending on the type of vehicle and its usage. Fleet owners choosing this option must continuously meet or exceed certain scheduled ZEV Fleet Milestone percentage requirements. The ZEV Milestones Option ultimately requires 100% ZEVs by 2035. While CARB’s ACF and ACT regulations may permit companies to seek exemptions or relief, there are no assurances that relief from either regulation will be obtained. At this point, there are virtually no ZEVs widely available that are suitable replacements for current technology used in LTL operations. In addition, there does not appear to be sufficient infrastructure in place to support an electric vehicle fleet operation throughout our current terminal network. If ZEVs are not available or not commercially viable for the LTL market, we may be required to modify or curtail our operations in California. During any transition to zero-emission trucks, due to the mandates on manufacturers limiting diesel engine sales, we may be forced to continue using older model diesel trucks that may require higher maintenance costs or be less reliable. The transition to utilizing ZEVs could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and cash flows.