{"id":82169,"date":"2025-05-01T19:21:03","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T23:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=82169"},"modified":"2025-05-01T19:21:03","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T23:21:03","slug":"act-expo-2025-one-step-forward-two-steps-back-for-clean-trucking-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=82169","title":{"rendered":"ACT Expo 2025 \u2013\u00a0one step forward, two steps back for clean trucking [part 1]"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ACT Expo is North America\u2019s premier clean truck and transport trade show \u2013\u00a0and for 2025 it was bigger than ever, with more exhibitors and more, more capable battery electric vehicles than ever. The downsides? NACFE have scored with their \u201cmessy middle\u201d messaging, and the return of \u201cclean diesel\u201d talking points.<\/p>\n

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The re-election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States has thrown the steady pace of electric fleet adoption \u2013\u00a0along with just about every thing else \u2013\u00a0into a state of confusion and disarray. Into that chaos, NACFE (the North American Council for Freight Efficiency) has thrown a positively progress-shattering bromide that may as well have been designed to distract attention from the proliferation of practical medium- and heavy-duty EVs, the rapid expansion of a comprehensive DC fast charging network<\/a>, and the rapidly decreasing delta between the up-front costs of conventional diesel and battery electric offerings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m talking about the phrase, \u201cthe messy middle<\/a>,\u201d which posits that, while we can all agree that electric vehicles and battery technology are the future, \u201cwe\u2019re not quite there, yet.\u201d The result is a series of observations that, while very timely in 2019<\/a>, seem to disingenuously portray EVs as new technology today, while claiming that there are unanswered questions regarding battery costs and component longevity.<\/p>\n

Never mind that next year will mark the (checks notes) twenty-ninth year<\/em> of Toyota Prius production, and the thirtieth anniversary<\/em> of the production launch of GM\u2019s EV1, or<\/em> that Volvo is on its third generation of battery electric semi<\/a>, or<\/em> that dozens of EV fleets<\/a> have logged hundreds of millions of all-electric miles<\/a> on their vehicles<\/a> \u2013\u00a0never mind, in other words, that BEVs are in production now, ready now, in customer hands now<\/a>, delivering on the promise of reduced TCO now<\/a> \u2026 an EV may not be suitable for some<\/em> fleets \u2013\u00a0and NACFE\u2019s \u201cmessy middle\u201d messaging is going to give a lot of fleets an excuse to buy one more round diesel-engined semi trucks to fill up with more diesel from Shell<\/s> their favorite truck stops.<\/p>\n

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All that said, it\u2019s catchy. Outside of NACFE\u2019s booth or Shell\u2019s panels I\u2019ve heard the phrase \u201cmessy middle\u201d repeated sincerely at least a dozen times over the last three days, and I have to admit that the alliterative lure of that particular little ear worm that, regardless of the sincerity of NACFE\u2019s intent, is going to set the pace of EV adoption back at least<\/em> the length of one Presidential term<\/a> (give or take 100 days).<\/p>\n

Moving on \u2026<\/p>\n

There was plenty of good stuff<\/h2>\n

Despite my ranting and raving against the whole \u201cmessy middle\u201d messaging, there was an incredible amount of awesome, zero-emission, battery-powered goodness at this year\u2019s ACT Expo. Too much, in fact, to jam into a single article (unless y\u2019all like 5,000 word articles).<\/p>\n

As such, I won\u2019t even try. <\/p>\n

Instead, I\u2019ll use this post to give you a sneak peek at some of the stories I\u2019ll be posting in the coming days, bringing you fully up to speed with all the latest and greatest new EVs<\/a>, EREVs<\/a>, and HFCEVs<\/a> that commercial fleet buyers can place an order for today, and start putting the messy middle (and their backwards-looking competitors) behind them. So, check out the short list, below, then watch this space to see the links go live.<\/p>\n

ACT 2025 News<\/h2>\n