Clean Trucks
Illinois has a dirty diesel problem. The fuel burned primarily by trucks and heavy equipment causes major damage to our health and climate, with the worst burdens falling on Black, Indigenous, and people of color as well as those with low incomes.
Illinois needs clean trucks and buses for equity and the health of our communities
Every year in Illinois, diesel engine exhaust is responsible for an estimated 416 premature deaths, 24,601 lost work days and annual costs from exposure of $4.6 billion. Illinoisans pay for the damage from diesel pollution through medical and hospital bills, costly medicine, and missed days of work or school.
Race is a greater risk factor for exposure to toxic pollution than income level. Disproportionate numbers of non-white people are exposed to potentially hazardous fine particle pollution from nearly all major U.S. emission sources, regardless of where they live or how much money they make. Environmental justice communities on Chicago’s South and Southwest sides are living the effects of breathing in diesel pollution from thousands of trucks moving through their neighborhoods in a given day.
People experiencing poverty are exposed to 35% more air pollution than the average American.
Non-white people are exposed to 28% more than average.
Black people are exposed to a staggering 54% more air pollution than average.
Where diesel was once the only option, we now have the technology to protect Illinois children and people living near busy roads, highways, and warehouses from deadly diesel pollution. We need rules in place to speed up the transition to pollution-free trucks, buses and delivery vans to save lives.
Trucks, buses, and delivery vans pump out 67% of smog pollution (nitrogen oxide emissions), 59% of the particulate matter (PM), and 36% of the greenhouse gas emissions from on-road vehicles, yet they’re only 7% of all vehicles on Illinois’ roads.Those same medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, powered by electric motors, have zero tailpipe pollution, yet all the “get up and go” power of their fossil predecessors.
“The Dirty Dozen: The Impacts of Diesel Engine Pollution in Illinois” Report from May of 2022 shows:
Illinois ranked fifth among all states with the highest number of deaths from PM2.5 diesel engine pollution per capita in 2023.
In 2023, with about 4% of the US population, Illinois residents accounted for 6.3 percent of asthma related emergency department visits and 5.3 percent of non-fatal heart attacks due to diesel engine PM2.5 air pollution nationwide.
The dirtiest counties in Illinois are all within the top 9% of the worst polluted counties nationwide.
Electric vans, buses, and trucks are affordable, scaleable, and available.
AFFORDABLE
It’s cheaper today to own and operate an electric van, bus, or truck than it is a diesel version, in many cases. A recent analysis by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found an electric truck offers about 13% lower total cost of ownership compared to a diesel version, due to savings on fuel and lower maintenance costs.
In one example, it only takes the electric truck 3 years to overcome its higher sticker price and begin returning money to the owner, a total of $200,000 saved over 15 years. By 2030, it’s estimated an electric truck will cost the same up front, due to falling battery prices, and savings will begin at the time of purchase. In the meantime, worker health improvement, productivity, and avoided sick days are all immediate benefits.
Every diesel truck, van, and bus we replace with a zero-smog, electric version, creates immediate health benefits to local communities, families, workers, and truck drivers. The urgency with which we transition to electric trucks must reflect the urgency of the health crisis caused by transportation pollution today.
One significant step is for Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to make sure many more pollution-free trucks are available for fleets, businesses, governments and others who want to transition.
EXPANDING INDUSTRY
With technology available today for most truck, bus, and van applications, many large businesses are plunging full speed ahead into an electric transition for their fleets.
PepsiCo, Sysco and Walmart, the 3 largest private fleets in the U.S., are all testing and/or purchasing electric trucks now! There is demand for these trucks. Walmart wants to have all zero-emissions trucks by 2040.
Amazon’s new electric vans will be making deliveries in over 100 U.S. cities and they plan to put 100,000 on the road by 2030. In fact, they are having 100,000 electric delivery vans built right in Central Illinois! Household names with giant logistics operations, like IKEA and DHL are all in on electric trucks. Lion is building electric buses in Illinois, and plans to build 20,000 electric buses a year.
The global industry is already proving it can electrify fast, but unfortunately Illinois and the United States are far behind international rivals. From the beginning of 2015 to the end of 2018, Shenzhen, China’s fleet of electric logistics vehicles, vans, and light/medium trucks expanded from 300 to approximately 61,857, representing approximately 35% of the city’s overall fleet of urban delivery vehicles.
The recently passed Inflation Reduction Act includes $1 billion for grants for clean heavy duty trucks, such as school buses, transit buses and trash trucks which will further support the transition to electric trucks.
AVAILABLE
Current estimates indicate there are more than 70 different models of zero-emission vans, trucks and buses that already are commercially available from several manufacturers. Fleets are lining up to get their drivers into these vehicles. That’s because while the sticker price for most zero-emissions models may be higher than a fossil fuel truck, fuel and maintenance cost savings means total lifetime costs can be lower for many fleets today. But the transition to zero-emission trucks is not happening at the pace necessary to address the public health crisis created by truck pollution. Setting strong, feasible zero-emission vehicle sales requirements is critical to accelerating this transition.
OPPORTUNITY
Adopting the Advanced Clean Trucks and other impactful policies like the Heavy Duty Omnibus Low-NOx rules for new diesel vehicles will move Illinois to a leadership position in the fast-growing global market for zero-emission trucks, inspiring investments and innovations in anticipation of strong electric truck standards.
Illinois has more than a dozen businesses working on advanced clean, fuel-efficient vehicles manufacturing-- employing nearly 10,000 Illinoisans. Adopting these rules will supercharge this sector of the economy and Illinois stands to benefit from that growth. (BGA 2017)
Electrical workers in Illinois are ready for the jobs of the future right now. Increasing use of zero emissions trucks means a need for many, many new charging stations. Highly skilled, union electricians, who earn much higher than average wages, will be needed for this expanded work.
Illinois won’t be acting alone among states. In addition to California, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey, New York, Colorado, New Mexico, Vermont, Rhode Island and Massachusetts have already adopted Advanced Clean Truck policies, and other states, including Vermont and Colorado, are working to do so in the near future. Working together, states adopting these policies will move the market more quickly and those who adopt first will be first in line for the rewards.