Watt's the deal with the 2025 Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Conference? Like handling my son in the video at the bottom of this post, there are definitely some growing pains. This was my second year attending, and I certainly saw some trends. Here’s my hot take:
Despite policy headwinds the commercial EV market is still moving forward and deals are getting done.
Local and regional policy is becoming the priority for fleets and developers – as there’s continued uncertainty at the federal level, state and local governments are stepping up and filling a need.
Prices for Fleet Trucks Are Going Down
Lower cost Class 8 trucks – big 18 wheelers for those not familiar – from Windrose and Tesla are starting to hit the street at very low prices - $250,000 compared to other vendors that are $400,000 to $500,000.
One of my fellow OG solar contacts in the EV space compared these new trucks as game changing. He said it reminded him of the early days of utility solar when we all moved from fixed tilt to single axis trackers. It completely changed the game and value proposition for solar developers.
I also saw some newer entrants in lower cost, light and medium duty fleet vehicles as well. But aside from the cool new trucks and vehicles, I also learned about some interesting applications around the modular deployment of charging infrastructure.
EV Growing Pains
That’s not to say the conference was all rainbows and butterflies. Attendance seemed down year-over-year, and the expo hall felt a bit empty.
For those focused on hydrogen vehicles, it seems like there’s not many OEMs left, and it’s unclear what the future holds for those still at the table.
In terms of electric fleet vehicle incentives, California’s removal of the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) legislation was still on everyone’s mind. We met with some of the largest national fleets in the country, and the rollback has provided them some breathing room to focus on EV projects outside of California. However, they also said that the ACF rollback hadn’t changed their zero emission goals.
The general takeaway is it’s still in early innings of the EV fleet market, which is very reminiscent of solar back when I got into the space in 2008.
For those of you that were around then, you know that a nascent market will produce some winners and some losers. Those that are well capitalized, established, and have a track record will generally prevail and capitalize on the opportunities that arise – all the more reason why I remain excited about the prospects for RP in developing EV infrastructure for medium to heavy duty fleets throughout the US.
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