The RV industry may soon be delivered a gut punch, and weirdly it’s not going to be from demand swings. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has amended its regulations and will require the manufacturers of motorhomes with a gross weight of over 8,500 pounds to sell an increasing number of EVs. There’s just one problem: No RV manufacturer currently sells a heavy electric motorhome. In effect, California and five other states may inadvertently ban the sale of new motorhomes in only a few weeks’ time.
This news comes to us from SFGate and paints a dark picture for the battered but recovering RV market. RV sales hit all-time records during the COVID-19 pandemic, then fell off a cliff after people stopped buying RVs for numerous reasons. The RV Industry Association expects America’s RV builders to ship 324,100 units this year, far down from 2021’s all-time record of 600,240 shipments. To illustrate the change in demand, RV sales have plummeted to a level not seen since 2013.
Thankfully, the RVIA says, sales are trending in an upward direction with this year closing out better than 2023 and with next year looking to be an even better year. That might not be the case if California, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, and Massachusetts move forward on stringent emissions requirements that would push motorhome diesel engines out of the market.
The Advanced Clean Trucks rule was successfully adopted by CARB in 2020. According to the rule as originally adopted, makers of medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks were required to begin building a small percentage of zero-emission vehicles beginning in 2024 and gradually rising from there. Here’s a chart:
Class 2b-3 is for on-road trucks with a GVWR between 8,501 and 14,000 pounds. Class 4-8 is for on-road trucks with a GVWR greater than or equal to 14,001 pounds. Finally, Class 7-8 covers vehicles with a GVWR greater than or equal to 26,001 pounds.
