I read with great interest Dr. S. Christy Sadreameli’s guest commentary, “Diesel trucks are disastrous for children’s health” (Sept.17). Her commentary urged Maryland policymakers to implement the Advance Clean Trucks rule, which kicked off in California earlier this year and effectively mandates the sale of medium and heavy-duty electric trucks in the state.

While it is convenient to look at this only as a public health issue, Dr. Sadreameli regrettably failed to consider the broad, real-world and practical implications that electric truck mandates will have on Maryland’s supply chain and infrastructure. The commentary also ignored the many essential contributions that trucks play in the daily lives of our state’s citizens.

As we learned during the pandemic, trucks are the lifeblood of our supply chain, delivering food, medical supplies, clothing and countless other essential goods. Some 93% of Maryland communities depend exclusively on trucks for their goods. These communities literally have “nothing without trucking.” Any major disruption to our critical and fragile supply chain, including the rushed implementation of the Advanced Clean Trucks rule, will have disastrous consequences.

When it passed the Advance Clean Trucks rule in 2023 — with our organization’s cooperation — Maryland’s General Assembly recognized this by requiring the Department of the Environment and four other state agencies to complete a needs assessment that considered the electrical capacity, charging stations, purchase incentives, timelines and feasibility to realistically achieve this transition. That assessment was mandated to be done before Dec. 1, 2024. Eighteen months later, it has not even begun.

Our industry is not opposed to zero-emission vehicles. In fact, a small number of fleets are testing electric trucks on an extremely limited basis. However, the early results show that these vehicles are more expensive, less efficient and require extensive new infrastructure. They often cannot replace diesel trucks on a one-to-one basis, meaning we will need more trucks and drivers on the road to deliver the same amount of freight and maintain current supply levels. What’s abundantly clear from early adopters of this technology is that the hurdles to widescale adoption are so massive and undeniable that the targets and timelines mandated by the Advance Clean Trucks rule can be described as nothing more than completely disconnected from reality.

There is currently no public charging infrastructure available for medium and heavy-duty trucks in Maryland. In a recent study conducted by National Grid, CALSTART and others, they found that a truck stop can require as much power as a small town. Recently the Clean Corridor Coalition, which includes Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut and New Jersey received a $250 million federal grant to support zero-emission infrastructure charging for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles on the Interstate 95 corridor. However, no charging is expected to be completed until at least 2029, with a total of five to seven charging hubs with five to six chargers at each site.

In California, where billions of dollars have already been spent to transition, the state estimates it needs 157,000 chargers by 2030 to meet its own goals. Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of chargers will be necessary to support the electric truck fleet, and this would require solving the already-severe shortage of parking for trucks, not to mention the hours it would take for them to charge.

The electric grid itself poses another concern. According to studies, the electrification of the entire U.S. vehicle fleet would consume over 40% of the nation’s current electricity demand. Our aging grid is struggling to meet today’s needs, let alone support a massive increase in demand from heavy-duty vehicles.

While the trucking industry supports clean technologies, it is imperative that we recognize the improvements that have already been made. Since 2010, emissions from heavy-duty diesel trucks have been reduced by 99% for NOx (an ozone precursor) and 98% for particulate emissions. Further progress is possible, but it must be done thoughtfully, with consideration for our supply chain, infrastructure, and the needs of everyday Americans in accordance with realistic timelines and targets. A rushed mandate without the necessary infrastructure will bring more harm than good. It’s easy to say Maryland should implement the Advance Clean Trucks rule. It’s much harder to actually do it.

— Louis Campion, Columbia

The writer is president and CEO of Maryland Motor Truck Association.