For cleaner fleets

In a bid to address climate change and scrub California’s notoriously dirty skies, state leaders are forcing an end to diesel powered trucks. It’s decision that can protect poor neighborhoods near freeways, invite other states to do the same, and push back against President Trump’s takedown of pollution rules.

The California Air Resources Board with the backing of Gov. Gavin Newsom is laying down a phaseout beginning in 2024 that will require emissionfree trucks ranging from heavyduty pickups to tractortrailer behemoths. That schedule will lead to 2045, when all trucks will switch to electric.

Like past efforts to push electric cars and limit tailpipe emissions, there were protests from fuel producers and engine makers. Electrics are expensive, unpopular and not up to the task, they claimed.

But that hasn’t proved true for electric car buyers now zooming down the road. With trucks there are other monumental factors. Diesel engines spew out nitrogen oxide and soot in disproportionate amounts. Lowincome communities near ports, manufacturing centers and roadways experience lung-choking ailments such as asthma. On a wider scale, turning off diesels will lessen the heattrapping gases that produce climate change.

There are challenges ahead. Charging stations and the power grid that serves them need to be beefed up. Though electric trucks are entering the market, more research and development will be needed to win over wary fleet owners.

The state’s directive comes with an unmistakable political punch. Going all electric should encourage states to follow California’s lead known as the Advanced Clean Truck rule. It’s also a stance that shows Sacramento isn’t backing down in the face of White House threats to shred clean air laws.

It’s time to imagine big trucks humming, not rumbling, down the highway.