In March of 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency set stricter emission limits on semi-trucks and encouraged the trucking industry to embrace zero-emission big rigs.

One year and a change of administration later, the EPA announced it was rolling back the rules. In its “Powering the Great American Comeback Fact Sheet,” the agency denounced the Biden-era regulations as forcing operators to “re-engineer their fleets toward uneconomic and unproven (for many parts of the market) electric technologies.”

President Donald Trump dismisses the concept of electric heavy trucks. At a rally in New Mexico last year, he said: “Fifty years ago, a truck was better than the best electric truck today.”

In this whipsaw moment, what is a manufacturer supposed to do? And how does the federal retreat from truck-electrification policies meld with Washington state regulations going in the opposite direction?

Much can be learned about environmental and economic policies by taking a close look at this small aspect of a single industry. And as it happens, there’s a hometown player.

Bellevue is headquarters for one of the nation’s largest producers of light, medium and heavy duty trucks — PACCAR . The company offers several lines of zero-emission vehicles.

Tracing its roots to a West Seattle railway and logging equipment manufacturer, PACCAR builds and sells large commercial trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF brands. One of the state’s biggest and lowest-profile companies, PACCAR is known to be press-shy.

Not expecting much, I asked for an interview. Coincidently, I tendered my request a few weeks before the company’s annual shareholder meeting in April. I was told I could attend the meeting and have 30 minutes with Chief Executive R. Preston Feight.

Why should people care about heavy trucks?

Without a doubt, these vehicles — defined as Class 7 (between 26,001-33,000 pounds) and Class 8 (over 33,001 pounds, the biggest rigs) — are central to the overall economy. Seventy-two percent of U.S. freight moves by truck, far more than rail (12%), pipeline (10%) or ship (6%). About 4.3 million heavy trucks are on the roads.

Transportation costs are part of almost every business’s overhead and are ultimately paid by consumers at the checkout counter.

Cargo-hauling trucks make up only 10% of vehicles but produce 28% of transportation-related global warming pollution, as well as health-harming diesel exhaust fumes.

PACCAR embraced electric trucks and sells several different models for both long hauls and, say, fresh vegetable deliveries around town.

Three years ago, the company’s Kenworth brand won an award from Clean & Prosperous Washington — lead advocate for the state’s groundbreaking climate change laws — commending its suite of battery electric vehicles. Former Gov. Jay Inslee presented the honor.

Beyond the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF electric trucks, PACCAR sells charging stations. What’s more, PACCAR announced last year that it planned to invest between $600 million and $900 million in a joint venture to build a battery plant in Mississippi.

Even with the change in federal priorities since Election Day, PACCAR’s CEO told me the decision to put money into a new battery plant still makes sense.

“Having capability at PACCAR which allows us to understand how to make and produce cells for batteries — which is the most expensive part on the battery electric truck — has great long-term viability,” said Feight.

“Is the adoption curve different than it might have been thought to be two years ago? Sure. Does that affect our long-term planning? Not really. We think longer and bigger than getting too concerned about a moment.”

Feight said people ought to be able to buy whatever product best fits their needs. “Our customers’ goals are to use as little energy as possible to move freight. Our goal is to give them trucks that use as little energy to move freight. So it’s completely symbiotic with an environmental footprint that’s optimized for our society.”

But market demand is about to meet regulation head-on.

Washington is one of only five states to adopt California’s Advanced Clean Truck rules. The regulations require that 7%-11% of new truck sales must be zero-emission beginning Jan. 1, 2025. The regulation covers delivery vans to semi-trucks, and manufacturers can buy credits from those who exceed the mandate.

At a legislative hearing last year, a PACCAR representative told lawmakers that sales of electric trucks are low — around 10 each year.

Electric trucks have a range of only about 150-200 miles. Charging takes up to six hours. Batteries add up to 20,000 pounds of extra weight, limiting cargo.

Diesel-powered heavy trucks cost upward of about $180,000. Electric trucks can cost between $300,000 and $500,000.

To effectively move freight across the state, dozens of new charging stations would have to come online each week, and that’s not happening, said a truck manufacturer at a briefing for Senate Bill 5091 , a Republican measure that would prohibit Washington from adopting California’s pollution and emission standards and direct the state to follow federal policy instead.

Given the number of electric trucks his business sold in recent years, a sales manager for a Kenworth dealership told lawmakers that he will be able to sell only 42 conventional trucks this year. Typically, the dealership sells about 500 trucks annually.

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“We have a staff of 10 salespeople,” he said during the briefing. “Forty-two (truck sales) won’t feed a single one of them.”

SB 5091 died in committee this session. The rules are real.

All told, the state Department of Ecology reports that 58 zero-emission semi-trucks have been sold in Washington in recent years. To meet the 7% threshold for electric truck sales this year, manufacturers would theoretically have to sell about 128 to maintain their current sales numbers of conventional trucks.

Despite the gloomy assessment from truckers, state Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller told me that electric trucks have a bright future. For one, the state will plow around $126 million into subsidizing zero-emission vehicles as well as building new charging stations.

And Sixkiller said Ecology is in the process of amending the rules to provide manufacturers with some flexibility to meet the climate goals. He would not elaborate, but said delay is not an option.

“Creating some more time and space is a good thing. It shows a level of leadership, working collaboratively with industry,” he said. “We don’t have our head in the sand like an ostrich here, assuming everything is going to be OK. We’re answering all the things they are asking us to do except using a sledgehammer to delay.”

Where is all this heading?

Just over a week ago, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to overturn the Biden administration’s approval of California’s Advanced Clean Trucks rule, which Washington follows.

The Trump administration is working to eliminate investments in charging stations and reconsidering federal vehicle emission standards.

On the other side of the equation, Washington is putting the pedal to the metal on green trucks as part of much larger goals to reduce carbon pollution.

To make a successful leap to a cleaner future, it will take mandates, incentives, massive infrastructure investments and subsidies. Ideally, all this would be coordinated nationally. It’s called an industrial policy, and when it comes to transitioning to zero-emission trucks, the nation doesn’t have one.

“We have this federal policy, we have a California-plus-other-states policy. We think that’s a little bit confusing,” said Feight. “I think the best answer is a uniform policy and a consistent policy. We recognize approaches differ, so there’s going to be some variability in there, but we prefer not to have wild swings and we prefer not to end up with states each individually trying to set their air quality standards.”

Will Congressional Republicans wrest control of vehicle pollution rules from the states? Will states successfully push more sales of cleaner big rigs? Or will buyers take advantage of the patchwork of rules and simply purchase diesel trucks in states that allow it?

The answers will impact everything from the cost of groceries to whether we can flatten trendlines of a warming planet.

And of course, because this is 2025 and it’s how we roll, what company do you think just posted a social media sizzle reel of its fancy new electric heavy trucks rolling through a brand-new factory?

Enter Elon Musk’s Tesla , which touted its Semi with the tagline: “The Future of Trucking Is Electric.”