PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 16, 2023
In June 2020, California adopted an Advanced Clean Trucks regulation, which requires 40% to 55% of all heavy trucks sold by 2035 in California to be electric. Now, the Maine is considering adopting portions of that regulation after a petition was submitted by the Conservation Law Foundation, Sierra Club and Natural Resources Council of Maine. The problems are numerous. It is not practicable for the construction or logging industries to invest in certain heavy-duty zero-emission trucks when those trucks have no way to recharge at their remote job sites in gravel pits and in the north Maine woods. Furthermore, the use of accessory equipment like snowplows, dump bodies, and cranes, reduces battery life. Zero-emission vehicles are part of the future of transportation, but we cannot rush their adoption. Let the market evolve naturally. ~ Tom Brown, Maine Auto Dealers Association, and Kelly Flagg, AGC Maine