California Leads the Electric Transition, Waste Management Industry Faces 'Bumps and Bruises'

The Advanced Clean Fleets rule adopted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is putting pressure on the waste hauling industry, requiring affected fleets to purchase 100% zero-emission vehicles by 2042. Haulers are scrambling to find solutions just as manufacturers are beginning to ramp up production of trucks that can meet the demand. However, as orders for battery-electric garbage trucks begin to pour in, many companies remain concerned about charging infrastructure and the technological advancements needed to meet the new regulatory deadlines.

"Innovation is difficult and it's not a straight line," Republic Services CEO Jon Vander Ark said last week at the WasteExpo investor summit. "There will be ups and downs, and there will be bumps and bruises."

The timeline approved by CARB on April 28 requires refuse and wastewater fleets that previously used compressed natural gas (CNG) to achieve 10% zero-emission vehicles by 2030 and 100% by 2042. This timeline is later than for certain other types of fleets, a change WM and other waste industry members lobbied for due to their investments in CNG vehicles and infrastructure. Diesel fleets will be phased out during the transition.

The rule is viewed as aggressive by truck fleet operators, but environmentalists and CARB consider it necessary, noting in its release that trucks account for 25% of California's greenhouse gas emissions from highways, despite comprising only 6% of vehicles. Organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) praised the move, which was adopted alongside another emissions reduction regulation targeting railroads, seeing it as progress in decarbonizing transportation.

"This regulation will help drive the transition to cleaner, zero-emission trucks, create good jobs, and reduce pollution from the transportation sector, which is the state's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions," NRDC clean vehicles advocate Guillermo Ortiz said in a statement.

But at WasteExpo, executives from major haulers said battery-electric truck technology still struggles to meet all the needs of their fleets. Waste Connections' incoming CEO Ron Mittelstaedt said the electric models he has seen cost twice as much as CNG or diesel trucks, have less than 60% of the payload capacity, and travel less than 25-30% of the distance.

"When you talk about those differences, the cost-effectiveness is only 20-22% of a CNG or diesel vehicle," Mittelstaedt said at the investor summit. "I don't think this is going to be ready for prime time very soon in a competitive market like Denver, Chicago, or Houston."

"Infrastructure concerns"

The biggest concern for many companies is the new charging infrastructure, which has drawn attention from California and the federal government as a pressing need to achieve national electrification goals.

"The question that needs to be answered is the infrastructure issue," WM Chief Operating Officer John Morris said in an interview. "Having a reliable source to fuel these trucks every day is a problem we need to solve."

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) identified 166 heavy-duty fleet charging stations nationwide in the third quarter of 2022, of which 101 were Level 2 chargers providing 25 miles of range after one hour of charging, and 65 were DC fast chargers providing over 100 miles of range after 30 minutes.

But Tim Thornton, vice president and general manager of Autocar Trucks' refuse business, said the places where refuse haulers use (and charge) electric trucks have not yet been done at scale.

"Some customers are building infrastructure, but they're not building it for the entire fleet," Thornton said.

Republic is one hauler actively purchasing electric trucks. Vander Ark said the company currently has about 20 zero-emission trucks on the road and hopes to reach 50 next year. Republic typically buys about 1,100 trucks annually. Vander Ark said his goal is to have up to 300 of those be battery-electric by 2025 and more than half by 2028.

These investments will require additional back-end work with utility companies to establish the necessary infrastructure. Vander Ark said the company is spending some of its own capital to build charging infrastructure and has already "broken ground" at eight sites to build out electrical capacity.

"You can't put 200 trucks at every site," Vander Ark said. "We need to balance the screening, so start with 20 locations and then scale up."

According to NREL data, California currently accounts for a third of the nation's charging stations, although the East Coast has seen rapid growth in charging infrastructure recently. Vander Ark expects Republic's rollout of electric refuse trucks to follow a similar pattern, first meeting California demand, then moving to other East Coast sites, and finally entering the central U.S., potentially supplemented by hydrogen fuel cell technology (when it becomes available).

But smaller haulers face greater infrastructure challenges, said Veronica Pardo, regulatory affairs director at the California Resource Recovery Alliance. These companies will rely on state and federal funding to finance charging infrastructure, as well as busy utility companies responsible for accelerating electrification across all industries, not just waste.

"When we talk about Republic, they have the capacity to make larger-scale investments, whereas smaller fleets do not," Pardo said. "For smaller fleets, they essentially have to work with local jurisdictions and communities to develop rate structures that support the necessary infrastructure."

The California Energy Commission expects to spend nearly $2 billion between 2021 and 2026 on electric charging infrastructure for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, with about $950 million spent so far, according to a spokesperson.

Not all funding goes to the waste industry. The CEC noted that the EnergIIZE Commercial Vehicles grant program has $183 million available, and the Medium- and Heavy-Duty Electric Vehicle Innovation Charging Solutions program will have $20 million available. Refuse haulers are eligible for these programs but will compete with fleets from other industries.

Beyond funding challenges, Pardo said some haulers her organization represents have heard that utility companies face multi-year delays in building charging infrastructure, partly due to a backlog of new projects.

CARB acknowledged this challenge in the final rule, allowing operators to apply for up to five-year extensions on zero-emission rule implementation when experiencing infrastructure delays. But Pardo said the rule does not allow these haulers to purchase new trucks during the transition period, essentially keeping aging vehicles in place rather than replacing them with the next best available technology, such as CNG.

Meanwhile, vehicle manufacturers must comply with the Advanced Clean Trucks rule, which similarly requires increasing percentages of zero-emission truck sales in California by 2039. Pardo said this could put haulers in an awkward position, stuck with obsolete trucks they cannot replace during implementation.

"Manufacturers themselves have quotas to meet, so they're likely to tell California fleets: 'Sorry, we can't deliver this truck to you,'" Pardo said. "They're happy to sell in other states, but in California, they tell other states we can't sell to you."

Technological limitations

While pilot projects are launching, truck manufacturers at WasteExpo acknowledged that battery-electric vehicles cannot yet compete with the performance of CNG or diesel trucks. This issue is particularly acute in vehicle range, as vehicles are challenged by heavy loads, rugged terrain, and adverse weather.

"The future hasn't fully arrived, so we're facing a collision course," Autocar Trucks President Jimmy Johnston said in an interview. "We have to be realistic about timing."

As cities increasingly write electric vehicle pilot requirements into refuse hauling contracts, several manufacturers have begun piloting or expanding production of battery-electric garbage trucks. Mack Trucks has been piloting its LR Electric truck with New York City's sanitation department since 2020 and recently received an order for seven more from the city agency.

Meanwhile, manufacturers Autocar and Heil have begun demonstrating their own Class 8 trucks with WM, while McNeilus (an Oshkosh company) has signed a long-term agreement with Republic Services to pilot and expand orders for its fully integrated electric refuse collection vehicles.

Michael Eastabrook, president and CEO of truck manufacturer Labrie Enviroquip Group, said he expects battery-electric trucks to become more common, but issues like charging infrastructure will prevent that fuel type from completely replacing CNG and diesel.

"This is a more nuanced conversation that needs to be had, more nuanced than our current political environment allows," Eastabrook said at the investor summit. "If we only go down the electric vehicle path, they will hit a wall at some point; the infrastructure cannot support it."

Vander Ark noted that the vehicles Republic is currently piloting have a range of just under 100 miles, sufficient for certain routes but unlikely to meet the needs of more rural communities.

Other haulers tout longer ranges under ideal conditions, but some companies are reluctant to commit to specific numbers because conditions like snow can alter battery life. WIN Waste Innovations expects to pilot two of its own electric rear-loaders in the Boston area, and CEO Robert Boucher said in August that these trucks will run on energy generated at WIN's waste-to-energy facilities, with a range of six to seven hours.

Casella Waste Systems is also working with Mack to pilot its LR Electric truck in Vermont, partly thanks to a state grant. Founder and CEO John Casella said the company is also working with Battle Motors, but he believes it needs to choose which markets get these trucks first.

"This is exciting technology. We will continue to pilot it, continue to push it... but it has a long way to go, especially in our region, because we deal with mountains and hills," Casella said.

Supply chain issues remain a concern for haulers and manufacturers. Patrick Carroll, president of Environmental Solutions Group, said delivery times for electric vehicles are currently slower than for internal combustion engine vehicles. He said the delay has decreased by several months since last year, and new U.S. battery manufacturers coming online this year could further shorten delays. "We do see things starting to improve," he noted.

Manufacturers typically take years to reach peak production of their electric models. However, once they do, they will find ready demand from haulers eager to meet new restrictions—15 states plus the District of Columbia have signed a memorandum of understanding to transition medium- and heavy-duty trucks to zero emissions by 2050, and funding continues to flow into electrification through programs like the Inflation Reduction Act.

What's more, a growing number of states are directly adopting California's Advanced Clean Trucks rule, indicating that a sea change in electric vehicle production and adoption is well underway.

"The expectation is that the early years will be more difficult, and then after 2030, we'll be moving smoothly," Pardo said. "That's the idea, anyway."

Disclosure: WasteExpo is operated by Informa, which owns Industry Dive, the publisher of Waste Dive. Informa has no influence over Waste Dive's coverage.