Understanding California’s Advanced Clean Truck Regulation

This fact sheet explains the Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) regulation adopted by California in 2020, which requires original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to increase the percentage of zero-emissions vehicles (ZEVs) and near-zero-emissions vehicles (NZEVs) in their annual sales from 2024 to 2035.

• The Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) regulation utilizes a cap-and-trade system to reduce emissions by requiring original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to sell an increasing percentage of zero-emissions vehicles (ZEVs) or near-zero-emissions vehicles (NZEVs) between 2024 and 2035.
• Compliance is mandatory for OEMs selling more than 500 vehicles per year, while those selling 500 or fewer heavy-duty trucks are exempt from accruing deficits and sales requirements, though they may still voluntarily report, bank, or trade credits.
• The ACT credit system distinguishes between ZEVs (zero tail-pipe emissions) and NZEVs (internal combustion engines with electric energy storage), with NZEV credits valued at up to 75 percent of a ZEV credit and limited to meeting half of an OEM's annual deficits.
• Credits are managed by vehicle weight class; while Class 2B to Class 4 groups can use credits from any group or subgroup, deficits for Class 7 to Class 8 tractor trucks must be offset by credits from that same vehicle group.
• California anticipates that the implementation of ACT will accelerate the adoption of medium- and heavy-duty ZEV trucks, resulting in a reduction of up to 17 million tons of CO2 emissions by 2040.

APA

RMI (2023). Understanding California’s Advanced Clean Truck Regulation. https://rmi.org/resources/understanding-californias-advanced-clean-truck-regulation/

Chicago

RMI. Understanding California’s Advanced Clean Truck Regulation. 2023. https://rmi.org/resources/understanding-californias-advanced-clean-truck-regulation/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Understanding California’s Advanced Clean Truck Regulation |date=27 June 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/understanding-californias-advanced-clean-truck-regulation/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2023understanding, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Understanding California’s Advanced Clean Truck Regulation}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/understanding-californias-advanced-clean-truck-regulation/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }