If you’ve ever blown out a transmission on a rural highway, had a rock puncture your radiator on a gravel road, or just gotten into an accident on an interstate, you know what a lifesaver tow trucks can be.
But now, in the state once more synonymous with car driving than any other, tow trucks are in danger of becoming a thing of the past — unless President Donald Trump comes in and saves the Democratic Party from another one of its epic regulatory blunders.
First adopted by the California Air Resources Board in 2020, the Advanced Clean Truck regulation doesn’t completely ban the sale of diesel trucks, but it does require that a growing percentage of all trucks sold in California be zero-emission vehicles (i.e., electric engines). In order to issue this regulation, California had to secure a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency, which not only oversees national implementation of the Clean Air Act but also grants waivers for states that want to enforce stricter regulations than the federal standards. The Biden administration granted that waiver in 2023.
The CARB then followed up on the 2020 ACT mandate for manufacturers to sell electric vehicles with a 2023 mandate to buy them, which was called the Advance Clean Fleets rule. This regulation requires all commercial and government truck fleets to have an increasingly larger percentage of EVs in them.
Even before Trump was elected, truck manufacturers and users complained about not only not having charging infrastructure to adequately support EV truck fleets but also the fact that no one had developed an adequate truck chassis that met the proper safety requirements.
By the time Trump was elected, the EPA had not approved the CAA waiver needed for CARB to enforce its ACF rule. Instead of risking a denial from Trump’s EPA, CARB pulled its waiver application. This means that commercial fleet operators no longer have to buy EV trucks.
However, even though the California mandate to buy EV trucks is gone, the California mandate to sell them still exists. And since manufacturers can’t sell diesel trucks without first selling EV trucks, California diesel truck users have no trucks to buy.
And that means Californians who need a tow truck will soon be stranded.
“The state is putting towing and recovery businesses that provide a valuable public service in a tough spot by requiring them to purchase custom, high-performance electric tow trucks that manufacturers are not building,” towing operator Mark Yebra told Tow Professional, a towing industry trade publication. “So, as truck fleets age, they can’t be replaced, putting emergency services at risk.”
There is hope for California motorists, however. Trump has the power to revisit the EPA’s original waiver to CARB for the ACT and revoke it. That would mean no more manufacturer mandates to build electric trucks that don’t exist yet, which would mean towing companies could go back to buying the diesel trucks they need to rescue California drivers.
California overwhelmingly voted against Trump in 2024. Hopefully, Trump will take mercy on them and save them from their own hubris.