Increases the weight limits for vehicles powered primarily by electric battery power and other fuels

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Jeremy Cooney says this is needed

This legislation is necessary to permit the greater use of electric powered and other alternative fuel trucks consistent with the goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). While one of the CLCPA's goals is to have all vehicles be zero emission by 2050, with interim goals before that year, New York has not updated the high- way weight limits to accommodate these heavier vehicles. As a result, zero and low emission trucks may be purchased but may be uneconomical because their payloads often must be decreased to offset the heavier weight of the vehicle itself. This bill will help address this issue and encourage the greater use of zero and low emission trucks in New York. The federal Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed into law in 2019, already allows natural gas and electric battery-powered trucks to exceed the weight limits provided for in law by up to 2,000 pounds, with a maximum gross vehicle weight of 82,000 pounds. Specifically, Section 127 of Title 23, U.S.C., establishes weight limits for vehicles operating on the Interstate System, as follows: 20,000 pounds on a single axle; 34,000 pounds on a tandem axle; and 80,000 pounds gross weight, unless the Federal Bridge Formula dictates a lower weight limit. States are permitted to correspondingly raise the weight limit on interstate high- ways within their borders, and New York State does permit such vehicles to operate on its interstate highways and within reasonable access ther- eto. However, the federal law does not extend this weight limit increase to state highways generally, and it is therefore necessary to amend state law to allow for those same vehicles to operate on state, as well as federal, highways. This bill would also allow vehicles powered by propane gas or hydrogen to exceed state highway maximum gross vehicle weight limits by 2,000, up to a maximum of 82,000 pounds. Zero and low emission trucks do not result in any greater wear upon highways. A 2021 report by the University of California Institute of Transportation Studies related to the effects of increased weights of alternative-fuel trucks on pavement and bridges found that long-haul electric trucks are estimated to be 5,328 pounds heavier than their diesel true bounterparts; natural gas trucks are estimated to weigh 500 to 2,000 poufids more than their diesel truck counterparts; and, hydro- gen fuel cell long-haul trucks are expected to weigh 2,267 pounds more than their diesel truck counterparts. The report found, however, that despite the heavier weight "the pavement damage analyses of the example state highway pavements and the county roads and urban arterials indi- cated that the projected changes for the implementation of alternative fuel trucks in 2030 and 2050 would cause a 0% to approximately 1% increase in life reduction across all cases."

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.