VTNA, Mack Retain Oregon Diesel Truck Sales Restrictions

A Volvo VNR Electric at an industry show. (John Sommers II for Transport Topics)

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Volvo Group AB’s two North American subsidiaries continue to restrict new diesel truck sales in Oregon despite recent uncertainty over reporting requirements for zero-emission vehicle sales being resolved, they told Transport Topics.

Volvo Trucks North America and Mack Trucks are restricting sales of diesel trucks so that they meet Oregon rules that require a percentage of truck sales to be zero-emission vehicles.

Oregon’s regulations mirror California’s Advanced Clean Trucks rule. The Beaver State’s ACT regulations apply to all new on-road vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 8,500 pounds.

A proportion of medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks that OEMs sell must be zero-emission vehicles from this year forward. For model year 2025, it is 7% for tractors and 11% for rigid trucks. The percentage of non-diesel trucks will rise each year.

So “at present, the sale of diesel vehicles in Oregon is restricted due to the low level of EV sales, the extremely limited number of available credits, and the lack of a credit pooling framework among the opt-in states,” a Mack spokeswoman told TT in an email.

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The Mack MD Electric is offered in Classes 6 and 7. (Mack Trucks)

Neither Mack nor VTNA has halted sales of new diesel trucks in Oregon, as their peer Daimler Truck North America did recently. “However, compliance with the [ACT] regulation requires us to carefully monitor our sales, and we have no choice but to limit diesel sales to ensure we meet the regulation’s required percentage of electric vehicle sales,” a VTNA spokesman said in an email.

Mack sells two battery-electric vehicles, the LR Electric and MD Electric. The LR Electric, a refuse truck that was the company’s first step into battery-electric vehicles, entered serial production in December 2021.

Mack introduced the MD Electric in March 2023. The MD Electric is available in Classes 6 and 7 ratings. The Class 6 option has a gross vehicle weight rating of 25,995 pounds, and the Class 7 model has a GVWR of 33,000 pounds. It is offered in dry van/refrigerated, stake/flatbed and dump formats.

VTNA sells one battery-electric model, the VNR Electric. The VNR Electric is available in five configurations: 4x2 straight truck, 6x4 straight truck, 4x2 tractor, 6x2 tractor and 6x4 tractor. The latter two day-cab options offer a maximum range of 275 miles on a single charge, while the 4x2 alternative has a range of 175 miles.

In December, VTNA said the VNR Electric had reached 10 million miles of on-the-road customer operations.

Almost 600 VNR Electric straight trucks and tractors are operational in the U.S. and Canada, it said Dec. 2.

VTNA debuted plans for a battery-electric version of the company’s flagship Class 8 semi tractor in June.

DTNA, meanwhile, will resume taking orders for diesel trucks and buses in Oregon after halting sales in late December, the company said Jan. 13.

The Daimler Truck unit, which manufactures Freightliner and Western Star trucks and Thomas Built Buses, stopped accepting orders as a result of a discrepancy in the reporting requirements for zero-emission truck and bus sales between California and Oregon.

DTNA said the discrepancy left the company unable to predict its credit balances from zero-emission vehicle sales, and that was too big a risk.

Freightliner sells two battery-electric trucks — the eCascadia tractor and eM2 medium-duty truck. Both are built in Oregon. Sister company Thomas Built Buses offers the Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley battery-electric model.

DTNA sold more than 1,500 diesel vehicles in Oregon in 2023. Freightliner’s diesel-powered Cascadia is North America’s best-selling Class 8 tractor.

Among other major truck manufacturers, Kenworth and International Motors told TT they would continue to sell diesel trucks in Oregon. Kenworth’s fellow Paccar subsidiary, Peterbilt, declined to comment.