Truckers Warn: The EV Clean Truck Act Will Wreck the Economy

On Mass Construction, host Joe Kelly sat down with Jessica French, chief operating officer at W. L. French Excavating Corporation, to unpack why Massachusetts’ Advanced Clean Trucks policy (often shortened on jobsites to the “Clean Truck Act”) is already freezing the heavy-duty market. What began as a viral clip morphed into a detailed on-the-ground account of what’s happening to the people who build roads, pour concrete, haul fuel, move groceries, and pick up your trash. 

Kelly frames it bluntly: if you work in construction, transportation, or logistics, you’re probably asking, “What are these people thinking?” French’s answer is not that EVs are bad – it’s that the rollout is broken.

What the Mandate Actually Does

As French explains, the policy ties sales of new diesel Class 7–8 trucks (think 18-wheelers, concrete mixers, refuse trucks, fire apparatus) to sales of electric versions. Dealers must hit an EV quota before they can sell the diesel rigs customers actually need, or face penalties. The catch? There are vanishingly few heavy-duty EVs to sell, and those that exist often don’t fit current use cases. In practice, the rule blocks diesel sales without delivering workable EV alternatives. Kelly summarizes the absurdity with a simple sales-counter scenario: who gets the scarce diesel allocation – the company that caves and buys an EV first, or the one that waits?

A 99% Collapse in New Heavy-Duty Sales

French points to real-time market carnage. Quoting the Massachusetts Trucking Association’s Kevin Weekes, Kelly notes that new semi and heavy-duty sales in Massachusetts have “plummeted 99%.” Last year there were more than a thousand new trucks on order; this year there are fewer than ten. That’s not a political talking point – it’s a pipeline problem. French says dealers are warning customers they can’t sell the diesels without EV sales to offset them. It’s not that fleets won’t buy cleaner trucks; it’s that the state has designed a system that makes purchasing any truck almost impossible.

Sticker Shock: Double the Price, Half the Certainty

Then there’s cost. French lays out her math: a new on-highway diesel tractor for her fleet runs about $250,000 all-in; comparable electric tractors are listing around $440,000. That’s nearly double before you’ve hauled a single load. Meanwhile, diesel prices on the lot have already jumped – French paid roughly 25% more for 2024 models than in 2023. Layer in higher borrowing costs and thinner construction margins, and Kelly makes the obvious macro point: push these costs through the supply chain and consumer prices climb – from concrete and steel to groceries and furniture.

The Charging Mirage

“Just charge at your shop,” skeptics say. French laughs – then does the calculus. Installing depot charging for a heavy fleet can mean a seven-figure capital project per yard, plus permitting timelines that don’t match construction schedules. One dealership tried public fast chargers: a single Class 8 truck blocked ten passenger stalls at a mall and gulped power for hours. Kelly pushes the practical question: where do you queue twenty concrete mixers before a pour? No one has an answer. French says there are “virtually no” large-format chargers in Massachusetts, period.

The Grid Isn’t Ready Either

Even if fleets spend the money, French says utilities can’t always deliver that much new load, and substations don’t spring up overnight. Kelly asks the obvious planning questions: how many heavy-duty EVs will be needed to meet state targets? How many megawatts of charging? Where will the substations go – and which towns will host them? French hasn’t seen credible state-level capacity studies that sequence production, charging, and grid upgrades before mandating purchases. That sequencing is the ballgame; right now the policy demands step three while steps one and two don’t exist.

Productivity Hits You Can’t Bid Around

Even when you can charge, time is money. French estimates four-hour charging windows for big rigs on public hardware. That demolishes jobsite productivity: fewer loads per day, tighter delivery windows missed, more idle crews, and schedule slips that trigger liquidated damages. Heavier EV truck weights also eat into legal payloads and complicate bridge limits. Kelly highlights the compounding effect: longer lead times + fewer loads + higher rates = bids that either blow budgets or never pencil, meaning projects simply don’t start.

Cities, Schools, and Fire Departments Feel It Too

This isn’t just private industry. French notes municipalities are “not exempt.” Refuse, snow, transit, school buses, and fire apparatus all fall into the scope. Town budgets were drafted without seven-figure line items for depot charging, and departments haven’t trained EV techs or secured spare units to cover multi-hour charge cycles. Kelly’s larger economic point lands: when public works slow, everyone pays – through service disruptions today and higher taxes tomorrow.

Perverse Outcome: Dirtier Trucks Stay on the Road

French supports cleaner air – and points out the irony. A 2025 diesel is vastly cleaner than a 2007 model; she cites a roughly 66% emissions improvement. But because new diesel purchases are blocked and EVs are unaffordable or unusable, fleets are overhauling older trucks and keeping them longer. That means worse emissions than if the state simply let companies keep refreshing to the newest diesel technology while EVs mature. Good intentions, backward results.

The Great Massachusetts Fleet Flight

What happens next if nothing changes? French predicts companies open satellite yards in states like New Hampshire where they can buy and register trucks, then route work into Massachusetts. Dealers here lose sales, the Commonwealth loses excise and sales tax, and mechanics and sales staff lose jobs. Some large national fleets may shift their newest units away from Massachusetts entirely, backfilling here with older trucks – again, the opposite of the environmental goal. Kelly underscores the long tail: it won’t crash all at once, but each quarter without a fix deepens the cut.

A Better Path: Phase It, Prove It, Then Scale

Neither Kelly nor French is anti-EV. In fact, they outline a sensible roadmap. First, require manufacturers to deliver buildable heavy-duty EV volumes on a realistic timetable. Second, fund and site heavy-vehicle charging – with grid upgrades – before sales quotas kick in. Third, pilot duty cycles (long-haul, regional, refuse, concrete, fire) to validate range, charging times, and uptime. Meanwhile, accelerate transitional wins: renewable diesel, improved NOx standards, hybrid vocational platforms, and targeted incentives for fleet mechanic training. In other words: crawl, walk, jog – then sprint.

What the Industry Is Doing – and How You Can Help

French says the Transportation Association of Massachusetts has organized a broad coalition of trade groups and companies to press for a pause so “stakeholders can come to the table and implement something feasible.” Kelly urges listeners – owners, PMs, superintendents, drivers, and suppliers – to rally their trade associations and lawmakers around a single “day of action” and flood the State House with one clear ask: Hit pause. Sequence the rollout. Protect jobs and the environment. If Massachusetts wants to lead, it should lead in planning, not just press releases.

Pump the Brakes, Not the Economy

This isn’t culture-war theater; it’s logistics. As French tells Kelly, the Commonwealth skipped the prerequisites: no reliable vehicle supply, no suitable charging footprint, no grid capacity, no mechanic training pipeline, and no credible cost recovery path for public or private fleets. Mandates without means don’t produce miracles – they produce scarcity, higher prices, and unintended emissions. If the state wants heavy-duty electrification to succeed, copy what construction does on every complex job: phase the work, fund the critical path, sequence trades, and only then pour the slab. Until that happens, truckers are right to warn: push this as written, and you won’t just stall projects – you’ll grind the economy.

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