Tesla’s Model 3 was the top-selling car in California in the first quarter of 2020, but electrified transport is not just about cars anymore.

Electric models of work trucks, commercial vehicles and construction machinery are hitting the market in greater numbers than ever before, and policymakers are growing increasingly optimistic about the sector. The California Air Resources Board (CARB), the state’s powerful air quality regulator, voted last month to require that every new truck sold in the state by 2045 be zero-emission, with truck makers forced to begin the transition in 2024.

Part of the challenge in electrifying transportation is simply getting enough desirable models on the market to attract customers and foster competition. In that realm, things are advancing: By 2023, there will be 19 all-electric or hydrogen fuel cell versions of heavy-duty trucks in production in North America, up from five Class 8 models available today, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute. 

In Europe, meanwhile, there are early signs of progress on electrifying off-road construction equipment, with electric versions of excavators, loads and dumpers now available from a range of manufacturers including Hitachi, Komatsu and Volvo. Oslo launched the world’s first zero-emission construction site last year, and Norway’s capital city has mandated that by 2025 all public construction sites will operate only zero-emission construction machinery.

“The tech is becoming more capable and real,” says Bill Van Amburg, executive director of Calstart, a clean transportation advocacy group. “The business case is there for key applications and looking stronger and stronger. And then we’ve got pretty strong drivers in Europe and California.”

Add to this China’s aggressive electrification push, where early success in transit buses is expanding to include delivery vans, taxis and garbage trucks, and “in three of the largest early markets in the world, the drivers are really strong,” Van Amburg said in an interview.

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