A federal judge has temporarily stopped California from enforcing its Clean Truck Partnership with major truck makers, a pause that immediately relieves manufacturers of contract-style obligations while the broader legal battle plays out. In an Oct. 31 order made public in trade press on Monday, U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins issued a preliminary injunction that bars the California Air Resources Board (CARB) from implementing or threatening to enforce the agreement during the case.
The Clean Truck Partnership, struck in 2023, was intended to align manufacturers with California’s push toward cleaner heavy-duty equipment and zero-emission technology, offering flexibility on timelines in exchange for commitments to meet state standards. That framework is now on ice, narrowing CARB’s leverage over signatory OEMs as courts sort out whether the arrangement can be used to advance state requirements following recent federal actions.
The injunction lands just days after CARB took the unusual step of suing Daimler Truck North America, PACCAR, International Motors and Volvo Group North America in California state court, alleging the companies signaled they would not honor the partnership’s commitments. The state complaint underscores how high the stakes are for Sacramento—and how quickly the dispute has escalated from policy coordination to courtroom confrontation.
For trucking, the near-term impact is clarity: while litigation proceeds, CARB cannot use the Clean Truck Partnership to compel conduct or threaten enforcement against OEMs. The order doesn’t resolve the fate of California’s underlying clean-truck regulations; it simply blocks the state from using this particular agreement as an enforcement tool. That distinction matters for dealers and fleets planning 2026–2027 purchases in California and “CARB states,” who have been navigating fast-changing rules and manufacturer allocations tied to compliance strategies.
Strategically, the ruling resets the negotiating table. Manufacturers gain space to make production and certification calls without the contract’s constraints, while California loses a key mechanism it argued would maintain momentum toward cleaner equipment. At the same time, CARB’s new breach-of-contract suit signals the agency intends to keep pressure on the companies outside federal court, ensuring that policy direction—infrastructure buildout, incentive budgets, and certification calendars—remains a moving target for the industry.
What to watch next: whether CARB seeks an appeal of the injunction; whether the state court case advances or is effectively sidelined by the federal order; and how OEM sales mixes and certification decisions shift for California-bound inventory in the months ahead. Fleet procurement teams should track OEM communications closely—especially around diesel model availability, ZEV offerings, and warranty/certification status—because those market signals will reflect how manufacturers recalibrate under the injunction.
Sources: FreightWaves, Commercial Carrier Journal, Overdrive, CBT News
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