CALIFORNIA — According to Idle Giants, over 50,000 people have signed petitions calling on the world’s biggest truck manufacturers to drop their lawsuit against California and commit to clean trucking.
“These truck manufacturers are turning their backs to their commitment to truck drivers, fleets and communities eager to receive the economic and health benefits of electric trucks,” said Katherine García, director of Sierra Club Clean Transportation for All. “Thousands of our members are calling on them to reverse course and deliver the clean air they promised.”
Truck manufacturers have received the petitions in recent days, as groups held meetings this week with the Daimler Truck CEO at their global headquarters in Stuttgart and with Daimler North America representatives at their U.S. headquarters in Portland, Ore., according to Idle Giants.
Lawsuit Background
Sierra Club, Public Citizen and Ekō have been gathering signatures for the petition, which calls on the four manufacturers suing California, Daimler Truck, Volvo Group, Paccar, International Motors, to “drop your disastrous lawsuit against clean trucks and healthy communities”.
The move follows previous calls to end the legal case by business groups, public health advocates and communities, including Oregon Business for Climate, Neighbors for Clean Air, T&E, NRDC, Evergreen and Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments for truck manufacturers.
Clean Truck Partnership
“The lawsuit centers on the Clean Truck Partnership, which the truck manufacturers signed with California’s Air Resources Board to support standards to tackle deadly air pollution, lower costs in trucking and boost innovation through the sale of electric trucks,” Idle Giants said. “Along with the legal action, truck manufacturers have been failing to live up to their commitments to ramp up electric truck sales, by undermining standards in U.S. states on clean trucks and lobbying the European Union to weaken emissions targets.”
Even at COP30 in Brazil, Daimler has been pushing biofuels, which is linked to deforestation and high food prices, while Volvo Group signed a letter advocating for gas certification, in a move that involves biogas lobby groups representing big oil companies such as Exxon, BP, Shell, and TotalEnergies. Neither manufacturers have signed onto a global agreement on zero emission trucking, which governments, fleets and retailers across the world have, according to Idle Giants.
Potential Fuel and Maintenance Cost Savings
“U.S. federal estimates show clean trucking standards could save the trucking industry $3.5 billion annually in fuel and maintenance costs,” Idle Giants said. “Over 52,000 electric trucks have been deployed across the U.S. while the latest industry figures in Europe show sales of diesel trucks continue to fall (down 11.9%) while sales of electric trucks are up 57.2%.”
Pressure on Daimler, Volvo, Traton and Paccar comes as they also face damage claims this week over price-fixing between 1997 and 2011. Separately, research shows electric trucks sold in the US are over $90,000 more expensive than models sold in Europe, with US prices rising but European prices decreasing, according to the release.
Ekō
“Truck manufacturing giants should be leading the sector’s electrification,” said Nish Humphreys, campaigns manager at Ekō. “People from all around the world are demanding these manufacturers drop the lawsuit, drop diesel and get up to speed with electric trucks.”
Public Citizen’s Climate Program
“Thousands of our members urge truckmakers to drop their lawsuit and recommit to California’s Clean Truck Partnership,” said Adam Zuckerman, senior clean vehicles campaigner with Public Citizen’s Climate Program. “If these corporations are allowed to abandon their commitment to California, it will be our communities and the hundreds of businesses that have invested in electric trucks that will pay the price.”
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
