Testifying before a Senate subcommittee on transportation technology recently, American Trucking Associations (ATA) President and CEO Chris Spear lobbed criticism at the California Air Resources Board (CARB), blasting its regulatory framework as economically unworkable and completely detached from operational reality.

“California Air Resources Board does not sit down with our industry,” Spear told lawmakers. “They don’t care what our industry has to say. Their attitude is: ‘You’ll figure it out.'”

The trucking industry narrowly avoided being the epicenter of what Spear characterized as an economic collapse when the Trump administration last year spiked the California Truck Emission Standards (CARB’s Omnibus rule) and California Truck NOx Emission Standards (CARB’s Advanced Clean Trucks regulations), respectively. California withdrew its waiver request in January 2025 to implement its Advanced Clean Fleets rule, which would have effectively mandated electric trucks in the state.

Spear cautioned that California’s push to rapidly electrify heavy-duty commercial fleets ignored massive deficits in power generation, grid capacity, and raw material supply chains.

Electric semis accounted for just 0.2% of total heavy-duty truck sales last year, and Spear noted that zero-emission tractors cost three-and-a-half times more than modern, clean diesel equipment. 

Fleet managers, too, face operational hurdles with current battery-electric setups, which can require six to eight hours of charging to achieve maximum rage (generally just more than 200 miles), compared to a 15-minute diesel fill up that can cover 1,200 miles.

Spear stated that if the now-repealed truck rules had remained intact, laws would have forced a mandatory 10% adoption rate by 2030, requiring roughly 3.5 million electric trucks to hit the road over a five year period. 

Spear further noted the irony that California relies on an electrical grid already plagued by seasonal rolling blackouts; that the critical minerals needed for vehicle batteries are currently sourced almost exclusively from international adversaries and volatile regions like China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and that domestic environmentalists routinely block mining initiatives stateside that take upwards of a decade to permit.

ATA’s top executive argued that state regulators often ignore the environmental leaps achieved by modern internal combustion technology. 

“Sixty trucks today on the road—brand new diesels—emit what one truck emitted in 1988,” Spear said. “That’s how far we’ve come… If they just focused on getting the 2010 or older trucks off the roads in California, they would’ve exponentially reduced emissions. They could’ve done that right now without turning on electricity, which they don’t have.”

Source: Clean Trucking

PSR Analysis. The ATA Chairman Spear discussed what many in the industry have known years.  The initiative to ultimately transition from the internal combustion engine to zero-emission medium and heavy trucks would not be possible until a number of the barriers have been overcome.  Barriers such as charging and grid infrastructure, total cost of ownership and misaligned duty cycles prohibit mass adoption of battery electric trucks.  Basically, an implementation timeline without a plan to achieve the milestones is impossible.   PSR

Chris Fisher is Senior Commercial Vehicle Analyst at Power Systems Research

A 4-Wheeled ATV is another term for All Terrain Vehicle. It has 4 wheels and is designed to be driven off road. It seats one person, or sometimes two, one in front of the other.

This product information comes from industry interviews and from two proprietary databases maintained by Power Systems Research: EnginLink , which provides information on engines, and OE Link, a database of equipment manufacturers.

Market Share. With 27% of total units produced, Honda leads the production of 4-Wheeled ATVs in North America.  In second position is Polaris with 26%; third, Yamaha with 15.5%.

Exports: Mexico: Up to 45% worldwide. United States: Up to 30% worldwide. Approximately 60% of the ATVs made by Suzuki in Rome, GA, remain in the U.S. while the remainder are sold internationally.

Trends. In 2025, production of ATVs in North America decreased 12%. But production is expected to gain a nominal 1% in 2026. Uncertain economic outlook, rising production costs and the growing popularity of side x side units (utility vehicles) are main reasons for the production decline. 

Manufacturers have discontinued less popular models/variants and are concentrating on bestselling units due to saturation in the market.  ATVs are used in a variety of activities that include recreation, sport and military related needs.

 According to investor relations for Yamaha, Polaris Industries and Arctic Cat, consumer discretionary spending is on the rise.  Production is expected to improve as indicated by current economic factors along with the introduction of innovative products and technologies.  Look for an additional increase up to 5-10% by 2035, although gas price increases caused by the war in Iran may affect sales.

No electric/battery powered units were produced until 2026 MY. BRP Mexico has two Outlander electric models it is introducing 2026 MY.    PSR

Carol Turner is Senior Analyst, Global Operations at Power Systems Research

Toyota is scraping its plans to launch a next-generation luxury EV, the Lexus LF-ZC electric sedan, which was expected to enter production later this year with advanced new batteries that would delivery significant range improvements, and a dedicated platform.

The model was planned to use the gigacasting production technique that would split the vehicle body into three parts, front, center, and rear, to cut costs.

On paper, this car would have been brilliant, but like many Toyota promises over the years, it’s not going into production. In model terms, Toyota promises much but delivers so little. Toyota is the latest Japanese automaker, following Honda and Nissan, to discontinue development of a major EV project, blaming changing market conditions.

Source: Electrek: Read The Article

PSR Analysis: While Japanese automakers continue to delay the inevitable shift to electric by cancelling projects, Toyota will likely fall even further behind Chinese brands, which own nearly every aspect of its supply chain.   PSR

Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research

The researchers found that cars in Central Europe could generate up to 55% of their annual electricity demand and in Southern Europe, the share could rise to 80% (this assumes relatively low annual mileage and large roof surfaces, such as those found on SUVs)

The study found that truck trailers equipped with a roof PV can generate up to 55 kWh per day during summer months. If solar modules are also integrated into the side walls, daily yields could increase to between 90 kWh and 110 kWh, enough to fully power cooling or hydraulic systems.

Source: PV Magazine: Read The Article

PSR Analysis: We have reported about this technology being used on trucks before, and the Toyota Prius even has (or had) and option of a roof mounted solar panel, so all of this is not news, but this is yet more evidence of the way things will probably move in the future., especially with oil prices so high.   PSR

Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research

Sustainability and Stability are two core ideals for businesses.

Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research

According to YMX, a US company which specializes in sustainable, optimized enterprise yard and transportation services and solutions for all sized yards across retail, manufacturing, and distribution sectors, “Electrifying yard operations is often framed as a sustainability initiative. But that framing is incomplete, it is also a risk management strategy.”

As of March 31, 2026, oil markets have been rattled by conflict involving Iran and severe disruption around the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints. Oil prices soared and these are not marginal increases. They represent rapid cost repricing across the entire supply chain. And this volatility is a severe risk to businesses

Source: Electrek: Read The Article

PSR Analysis: The electrification of logistics and businesses in general is not just about cost savings. It’s about stability and reducing dependency on one of the most volatile inputs in the business model (ie Oil).   PSR

On one hand, EV vehicles have been the growth engine for the European Automotive industry (and also for the global automotive market) which has led to billions of Euros in investment, and on the other hand, the oil lobby and some legacy automotive manufacturers are pushing back against emissions legislation.

But if Europe holds its course on EV manufacturing — including all the related / supported components (batteries, power electronics, and critical components) it can rebuild its industrial base and secure growth and jobs.   PSR

Source: Clean Technica: Read The Article

PSR Analysis: The EU is once again proposing to revise its 2030–2035 car CO2, with the new Commission proposal weakening both the 2030 and 2035 targets, and the auto industry wants to reduce that ambition even more. The real danger here is while legacy automotive manufacturers would “buy” time to sort out their issues, the rest of the world (apart from the USA) is not standing still, and EU automotive manufacturers will find themselves further behind, with even less time to sort out their issues before bankruptcy looms. What this boils down to is that if EU does not embrace the EV revolution, they will lose out and the EU’s auto industry will enter a period of rapid decline / loss.   PSR

Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research

Liquid electrolytes have been key EV batteries for some time now and the lithium-ion formula is the most important component. There are a lot of different formulae that do various things such as the removal of toxic inputs from the supply chain, or reductions in weight, elimination of fire hazards, and cutting costs.

The ultimate goal is to combine all these improvements in one electrolyte, but solid state or semi solid state batteries are appearing before that goal can be achieved and they promise to revolutionize the battery market. But, getting the electrons to move about within a solid is difficult at best. And that’s where Zwitterions come in.

Zwitterions are the building blocks of a new electrolyte created by a team of scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a branch of the US Department of Energy located in Tennessee. ORNL scientists believe that when changing the battery polymer by the interdiction of Zwitterions they can make significant improvements to batteries. But what is a Zwitterion? A Zwitterion is a molecule that contains both positive and negative charges but is overall electrically neutral.

Source: Clean Technica: Read The Article

PSR Analysis: While this technology is a few years away (it’s only in the early stages of research right now) it shows great potential in making solid state batteries actually work as designed.   PSR

Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research

The technology works by making atomic sized holes in the graphene, which allows the aluminum ions to penetrate and be held in the graphene to make a higher energy density, thus enabling them to outperform standard lithium batteries.

Australia-based Graphene Manufacturing Group has reported a significant increase in the energy density of its graphene aluminum-ion battery technology, as it moves closer to commercialization of ultra-fast charging cells

Source: BEST Mag: Read The Article

PSR Analysis: Graphene Manufacturing Group started developing prototypes back in 2021, so these improvements in energy density, along with rapid charging abilities, make graphene aluminum batteries a potential market disruptor.   PSR

For instance, in 2026, the U.S. critical minerals list include 60 minerals that companies in defense, agriculture, power, mining, and other industry sectors, need to get their jobs done. But spiking demand, restricted access, and rising prices can make it challenging to get these minerals

This is why experts at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) are researching other ways to make, mine for, or recycle these minerals. This article looks at three ways to get more of these precious minerals:

• How To Mine Metals From Seawater, Industrial Waste, and More
• An Economic Way To Recycle Graphite
• Supply Chain Recipes To Cut Costs and Energy

Source: Clean Technica: Read The Article

PSR Analysis: Given the Chinese near monopoly on Rare Earths and the resulting global supply constraints there is a big rush to secure supplies of critical minerals, and this is taking place all over the globe. Any way to improve access is vitally important.    PSR

CATL’s new battery expands its sodium-ion lineup beyond passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and auxiliary power, into utility-scale and commercial storage.

In terms of applications, the battery is aimed at utility-scale storage, renewable energy base projects, and AIDC (artificial intelligence data center), storage scenarios, according to CATL. Interestingly the battery pack has compatibility with CATL’s 587Ah Lithium battery.

Source: ESS News: Read The Article

PSR Analysis: Sodium-ion batteries offer several advantages over traditional lithium-ion batteries, namely that Sodium is more abundant and widely available than lithium, which reduces the cost of production and supply chain risks, and that Sodium batteries have a reduced environmental impact during disposal and recycling compared to lithium-ion batteries.   PSR