Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

California clean transportation body launches program to coach fleets on adopting zero-emissions trucks

CALSTART says advisory program will focus on independent owner-operators, underrepresented populations, and drayage providers

CALSTART Screen Shot 2023-06-23 at 4.55.36 PM.png

The nonprofit, clean transportation consortium CALSTART has launched a program to assist trucking fleets in making the transition to zero-emission vehicles, serving as an alternative to traditional formats such as websites, workshops, and mailers.

Pasadena, California-based CALSTART said its Cal Fleet Advisor (CFA) program will inform medium- and heavy-duty (MHD) fleets of the ins and outs of transitioning to zero-emission vehicles, both to make it easier for fleets to move to zero-emission vehicles and to meet the state’s ambitious requirements on reducing the sales and use of internal combustion engines.


In March, federal regulators granted the state of California permission to set tighter vehicle emissions standards than national standards, clearing the way for the state to require that about half the trucks sold in California must be all-electric by 2035. But some transportation industry groups are complaining that the changes are set to roll out too quickly.

CALSTART hopes its program will help to ease that stress. Developed in partnership with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), CFA addresses the confusion experienced by MHD fleet operators as they begin to investigate the numerous resources, options, and requirements involved in making the transition to zero-emission vehicles.

According to CALSTART, CFA provides fleets with a single point of contact to help them navigate the process of identifying, financing, obtaining, and deploying zero-emission MHD vehicles for their businesses. It will also provide tracking and document-collection and -filing assistance to fleets, answer questions, offer advice and smooth the process in transitioning to zero-emission technologies.

Although available to all California fleets, CFA is primarily focused on assisting smaller businesses and independent owner-operators, especially underrepresented populations and those domiciled in disadvantaged communities, who often haven’t the time or resources to effectively research and implement the steps necessary to transition to zero-emission vehicles. The resource is particularly useful for and geared toward the drayage community, which faces more stringent decarbonization timelines than other California transportation sectors.

“California has adopted a number of regulations that will require medium- and heavy-duty fleet operators to transition to zero-emission vehicles in the coming years. There are lots of options and rules fleets are faced with, and it can be overwhelming to figure out where to start,” Clare Bachman, Fleet Technical Assistance Project Manager at CALSTART, said in a release. “By adding a human element to information-sharing around zero-emission vehicles and funding, we will be able to help fleets determine exactly what they need to do, rather than have them take time out of their busy schedule to do it alone.”

 

 

Recent

More Stories

AI image of a dinosaur in teacup

Amazon to release new generation of AI models in 2025

Logistics and e-commerce giant Amazon says it will release a new collection of AI tools in 2025 that could “simplify the lives of shoppers, sellers, advertisers, enterprises, and everyone in between.”

The launch is based on “Amazon Nova,” the company’s new generation of foundation models, the company said in a blog post. Data scientists use foundation models (FMs) to develop machine learning (ML) platforms more quickly than starting from scratch, allowing them to create artificial intelligence applications capable of performing a wide variety of general tasks, since they were trained on a broad spectrum of generalized data, Amazon says.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

Logistics economy continues on solid footing
Logistics Managers' Index

Logistics economy continues on solid footing

Economic activity in the logistics industry expanded in November, continuing a steady growth pattern that began earlier this year and signaling a return to seasonality after several years of fluctuating conditions, according to the latest Logistics Managers’ Index report (LMI), released today.

The November LMI registered 58.4, down slightly from October’s reading of 58.9, which was the highest level in two years. The LMI is a monthly gauge of business conditions across warehousing and logistics markets; a reading above 50 indicates growth and a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Keep ReadingShow less
iceberg drawing to represent threats

GEP: six factors could change calm to storm in 2025

The current year is ending on a calm note for the logistics sector, but 2025 is on pace to be an era of rapid transformation, due to six driving forces that will shape procurement and supply chains in coming months, according to a forecast from New Jersey-based supply chain software provider GEP.

"After several years of mitigating inflation, disruption, supply shocks, conflicts, and uncertainty, we are currently in a relative period of calm," John Paitek, vice president, GEP, said in a release. "But it is very much the calm before the coming storm. This report provides procurement and supply chain leaders with a prescriptive guide to weathering the gale force headwinds of protectionism, tariffs, trade wars, regulatory pressures, uncertainty, and the AI revolution that we will face in 2025."

Keep ReadingShow less
chart of top business concerns from descartes

Descartes: businesses say top concern is tariff hikes

Business leaders at companies of every size say that rising tariffs and trade barriers are the most significant global trade challenge facing logistics and supply chain leaders today, according to a survey from supply chain software provider Descartes.

Specifically, 48% of respondents identified rising tariffs and trade barriers as their top concern, followed by supply chain disruptions at 45% and geopolitical instability at 41%. Moreover, tariffs and trade barriers ranked as the priority issue regardless of company size, as respondents at companies with less than 250 employees, 251-500, 501-1,000, 1,001-50,000 and 50,000+ employees all cited it as the most significant issue they are currently facing.

Keep ReadingShow less
diagram of blue yonder software platforms

Blue Yonder users see supply chains rocked by hack

Grocers and retailers are struggling to get their systems back online just before the winter holiday peak, following a software hack that hit the supply chain software provider Blue Yonder this week.

The ransomware attack is snarling inventory distribution patterns because of its impact on systems such as the employee scheduling system for coffee stalwart Starbucks, according to a published report. Scottsdale, Arizona-based Blue Yonder provides a wide range of supply chain software, including warehouse management system (WMS), transportation management system (TMS), order management and commerce, network and control tower, returns management, and others.

Keep ReadingShow less