On Thursday, Dec. 28, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) issued a notice that it will not enforce its Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulation until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants a waiver applicable to those regulatory provisions or determines one is not necessary.

Although the Advanced Clean Fleets regulation has been put on hold, CARB is urging “fleets to voluntarily report and comply while the waiver request is pending and reserves all of its rights to enforce the ACF regulation in full for any period for which a waiver is granted or for which a waiver is determined to be unnecessary, including (but not limited to) the right to remove non-compliant vehicles added to fleets while the waiver request is pending. CARB will also accept requests for the extensions and exemptions available under the ACF regulation during this period.”

How this notice applies to high-priority fleets

• CARB will not take enforcement action as to the high-priority fleet reporting requirements or registration prohibitions until U.S. EPA grants a preemption waiver or determines a waiver is not necessary.
• Reporting is optional until the waiver is granted or determined to be unnecessary; however, fleets will need to report their fleet as it existed on January 1, 2024, as well as any removals or additions to the California fleet since January 1, 2024, once the waiver is granted or is determined to be unnecessary.
• If fleets add internal combustion engine vehicles to their California fleet after December 31, 2023, those fleets should expect to receive the following notice from CARB:

“Any combustion-powered vehicles added into service in California in high priority or federal fleets after December 31, 2023, may be restricted from operating once the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants California a waiver for the Regulation pursuant to section 209 of the federal Clean Air Act or determines no such waiver is necessary. Once the waiver is granted or determined to be unnecessary, fleets may need to remove any vehicle from the California fleet that was not eligible to be added to the California fleet after January 1, 2024, or the fleet must elect to comply with the Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Milestone Option instead of the Model Year Schedule.”

To read the full ACF Regulation Enforcement Notice, click here.