Clean transport advocates criticized the move as further pushing affordable clean trucks out of reach and undermining electrification efforts in the U.S at a time when diesel prices have exceeded $5 a gallon.
They also slammed the erroneous arguments made in the court filing, in which the EMA makes exaggerated claims about EPA requirements for truck electrification and warns they would have to “reduce their overall production and sale of conventionally-fueled ICE-powered trucks”.
Warnings in the court filing that the standards “would be devastating to the new MHD truck market and the broad sectors of the nation’s economy that the trucking industry supports”, are not fact based, say clean transport advocates.
The request to intervene follows vocal support by Daimler Truck – the dominant manufacturer in the U.S. which controls 40% of the market – for efforts to kill climate and health emissions standards in the U.S. Daimler Truck supported the Trump Administration’s move to roll back the Endangerment Finding. Notably, Daimler was the only vehicle manufacturer to publicly support the repeal.
The EMA legal move is the latest of a series attacks by the truck manufacturers to undermine clean trucks. Daimler, along with Volvo Group, Paccar and International Motors, sued California last August over the Clean Truck Partnership, an agreement with the California Air Resources Board meant to advance truck electrification goals regardless of federal rollbacks.
The truck manufacturers also lobbied Congress last year through their lobby groups against rule on clean trucks – Congress subsequently voted to repeal California’s waiver to set its own standards. Truck manufacturers have also been undermining clean transport standards in states and creating concern among trucking fleets and dealers about the rules: in Oregon Daimler Truck completely halted sales of diesel trucks.
The truck manufacturers were involved in negotiations on the Phase 3 standards and were able to water down elements of it.
Despite commitments by the truck manufacturers to switching to zero emission trucks sales, each sells only a tiny percentage of electric trucks. According to Daimler’s annual report for 2025, just 1.5% of the total number of vehicles it sold, were zero emission.
Prices of electric trucks in the U.S. are higher than in Europe – and the costs for fleets are largely kept secret, obscuring the true costs of electric trucks and stifling the transition as diesel prices soar. Prices for class 8 electric trucks have increased 27% since 2020 but in Europe an equivalent truck decreased by 32%, according to research.
A report last week showed the high cost of electric trucks cannot be explained by the higher cost of components. Non-manufacturing electric trucks costs are roughly twice as high as on non-electric models, despite declining battery costs, and that major truck makers’ current pricing strategy for electric trucks is limiting new truck sales to less than a quarter of the global market.
While truck manufacturers in the U.S. work to dampen demand and rollout of electric trucks, markets elsewhere are embracing them. An estimated 25% of new trucks sold in China last year were electric while Europe is also seeing a spike in uptake.
The EMA’s lead lawyer in the case is Bill Wehrum, who stepped down as the Environmental Protection Agency’s chief air quality official in 2019 ”amid mounting scrutiny over possible ethics violations…related to his former work as a lawyer and lobbyist for a number of the same companies the agency regulates”. He oversaw significant regulatory roll backs on limits to air pollution.
Craig Segall, former Deputy Executive Officer and Assistant Chief Counsel of the California Air Resources Board
“The truck cartel just sided in court with Donald Trump to blow up climate progress. As diesel price spike, they feebly announced it is too hard to bring US drivers the same kinds of affordable electric trucks that are zooming down every port street in China — so they won’t try. If I had a single dollar invested in one of these companies, I’d demand the leadership be fired if they don’t disavow this anti-customer lawsuit.”
Katherine Garcia, Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All Campaign Director
“The Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association’s support of EPA’s repeal of life-saving clean truck standards is appalling. Truck manufacturers like Daimler and Volvo have slow-walked clean trucks for years and now want to throw them under the bus altogether, undermining American competitiveness and thumbing their nose at truck drivers and communities who demand the health and climate benefits of clean trucks. At a time when diesel is skyrocketing above $5 a gallon, truck manufacturers can no longer afford to cling to the past—they must invest in a cleaner, more resilient future and support the policies needed to accelerate truck electrification.”
Juan Roberto Madrid, GreenLatinos Sustainable Communities Program Manager
“Latino truck drivers are already being crushed by diesel prices that have surged over 40% to $5.29 a gallon because of Trump’s Iran war — the largest oil supply disruption in history. Now EMA and Daimler want to pile on by intervening to gut the very clean truck standards that would reduce our dependence on that dirty, expensive diesel. This is a double betrayal of the Latino workers and communities who make this industry run. These companies are not protecting American workers — they are protecting their profit margins while our people choke on diesel exhaust and go broke at the pump. We will not stand by while our communities are used as sacrifice zones.”
