Before 2026 diesel spike: US zero emission trucks deployments were rising

In 2025, cumulative zero-emission truck (ZET) deployments in the United States reached 72,309 vehicles, with 12,996 deployments added from July through December, a 99% increase from the 6,526 deployments added in the first half of 2025.

California (12,874), Florida (6,179), and Texas (5,953) are the top 3 states for cumulative ZET deployments, with Florida and Texas swapping places.

The findings were contained in the report: “Zeroing in on Zero-Emission Trucks June 2026 Market Update” published by CALSTART, based in Pasadena, CA which “brings the clean transportation industry together to accelerate innovation and grow the market. Bridging government and industry with support from our members and partners ...”

The report captures vehicle deployments, including purchased and leased vehicles, for cargo vans, medium-duty (MD) step vans, MD trucks, heavy-duty (HD) trucks, refuse trucks, and yard tractors as of December 2025.

US Purchases UP

The report said that after a slower first half of the year, “the US ZET market gained momentum in the second half of 2025 with ZETs representing 4.14% of all truck deployments from July through December 2025, up from 1.32% in the first half of the year. Cargo vans remained the largest segment and drove much of the market’s growth in the second half of 2025, rebounding from a weaker first half of the year. After 5,374 cargo van deployments in January through June 2025, the segment added 12,158 more in July through December. At the same time, noncargo-van deployments contributed 838 additional deployments, showing that market growth was not limited to a single segment.”

Higher 2026 Diesel Prices Hurting Truckers

At the Port of Long Beach cargo briefing last week, Robert Loya, CEO, Harbor Trucking Association (HTA) reported that the Iran War has resulted in skyrocketing diesel prices that have been hurting harbor truckers: “It's been extremely difficult over the last … few months … Diesel is over $7 per gallon. And what's really concerning is that … many of the times I've been told by my members they are not recovering that full cost.”

Tesla Battery Powered Trucks

Loya said that the Tesla Semi, a new battery powered zero emission truck which has a range of 500 miles per charge, offers the opportunity of addressing volatile diesel prices but the trucks are expensive and the charging infrastructure is still not sufficiently developed:” But now we're seeing the benefits of like the Tesla trucks … the trucks that we thought we needed four years ago to convert, they're starting to show up and I think those are great tools that we have now at our disposal.”

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is the next step Loya said: “The next step is the infrastructure. They can put out 60,000 trucks according to Tesla. That's how many they can push out in that plant. But that doesn't mean anything if we don't have the infrastructure to power those units. So, we're excited about the future. We're excited that these trucks are actually lighter, the range is better, they're quicker to fuel or to charge. But we just need the infrastructure in the proper corridors, which I know you guys (Ports of LA and Long Beach) are working on. And we're extremely excited that we're actually partnering in the right corridors where the freight is headed.”

China’s Leadership

The CALSTART report noted the explosive growth of zero emission trucks in China: “highlight how quickly ZET adoption can be scaled under policy and market alignment … In China, new energy HD trucks, including electric, plugin hybrid, and hydrogen-powered vehicles, accounted for 54% of total HD truck sales in December 2025, with more than 45,000 units sold that month. Over the full year, more than 231,000 new energy HD trucks were registered in China, representing a 182% increase from 2024.”

The report noted that these figures “reflect a broader category than Yard tractors (that) continue to be the leader in zero-emission market share by segment.”