Volvo is accused of counteracting US environmental rules for electric trucks

The transport sector accounts for about 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions – and quickly reverse that curve is crucial to reaching the world’s climate goals.

Volvo Trucks, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of trucks, buses and construction machines, presents itself as a precursor in the transition from diesel to emission-free vehicles. When Volvo’s CEO Martin Lundstedt spoke At the Technology Fair CES in Las Vegas in January 2025, the message was clear:

– The time for talk is over. The time for action is now.

The choice of stage was hardly a coincidence. The United States is Volvo’s most important market, and together with Daimler, Volkswagen and Paccar, the sale of heavy vehicles is dominated.

But now the criticism is growing Against Volvo. Despite them Green promises the company is accused of silently running an agenda that slows down the green transition.

In 2021, the state of California adopted a new regulation, Advanced Clean Truckswhich forces manufacturers of heavy vehicles to gradually increase the proportion of electric vehicles in their sales. Since then, several other states have followed with similar environmental requirements, which go beyond federal laws.

Volvo Group North America and other major players have agreed with California to respect the rules, not challenge them legally and to refrain from conducting lobbying against them.

But even when the rules came into force last year, the collaboration had begun to scratch. In September 2024 assesses California’s environmental authority that manufacturers are pushing responsibility for complying with the rules to the retailers, by demanding that they sell a certain number of electric vehicles to buy diesel. Shortly thereafter, the state of Oregon writes directly to Volvo, after being in contact with retailers who were worried about new requirements.

Craig Segall was up to This year Deputy Chairman of the California Air Resources Board and was responsible for designing the state’s climate rules. He believes that Volvo has opposed the environmental reform by greatly raising prices for electric trucks and at the same time pushing its retailers to buy them.

-Heavy electric trucks are now around $ 80,000 more expensive in the US than the corresponding models in the EU. No one can explain why. My interpretation is that Volvo is trying to sabotage the market, he says.

Why would Volvo do it?

– They have large investments in diesel and want to maximize the profits there now, and then switch around at a slower pace, says Craig Segall.

In addition to pricing is accused Volvo also to hide behind campaigns aimed at tearing up the environmental rules completely.

Volvo is a member of The Transport Projectan industry organization that advocates transition through fossil natural gas rather than electricity.

Since Donald Trump won the presidential election in November 2024, the organization’s lobby campaigns against the environmental rules Advanced Clean Trucks have been stepped up.

In March this year, The Transport Project a letter to the US Congress, where California’s rules are described as « unattainable » and « harmful to the American economy and national security ».

Leo Menninger is an analyst at influencemap, a think tank that examines company lobbying on climate issues. He has followed Volvo closely:

-Although Volvo has not been directly involved in the issue of Advanced Clean Trucks rule since their strong resistance in 2022 and the signing of Clean Trucks Partnership 2023, the company is still a paying member in the Transport Project and has not distanced its negative attitude.

Craig Segall also believes that The Transport Project acts as an extension of the manufacturers’ interests.

– They would not drive a line that goes against Volvo’s interests.

To the extent that the manufacturers believe that there are problems with the environmental rules, they should be handled openly and in dialogue with the states, he says.

– Instead, Volvo is silent. And it really says everything.

The strict environmental rules are Now under pressure from several directions. In some states, they are about to be withdrawn. At the same time, the battle is stepped up to the federal level.

In Congress, a campaign is currently underway to annul the rules using the disputed tool Congessional Review Act. A decision, which is tearing up previous approval of the rules, is expected to come already this week.

Newly made diesel trucks are expected to be used, and release greenhouse gases, for many years. Craig Segall believes that it would have had a revolving significance if Volvo had instead continued to support the rules.

– I’m not a fan of Elon Musk, but through Tesla he forced a basic shift in the electric car market. Volvo could have played that role in heavy traffic, says Segall.

How does it feel to you, who have been involved in developing the rules, to see them withdraw?

– It’s tragic. I had believed and hoped that global companies like Volvo would like to act more constructively.

Volvo’s Press Manager Claes Eliasson writes in an email to DN that the company is the industry leader in the transition to heavy electric vehicles in North America:
« Although there are high market shares, the total market is still far too small, and it is too slow. We work in many different ways to get enabling factors in place for the transition to be done as soon as possible. »

He states that Volvo, with reference to ongoing legal processes around Clean Trucks Partnership, cannot comment on the rules, but says that the company supports The Transport Project’s ambition for a broader change that does not focus solely on electric vehicles, but also includes other solutions such as natural gas.