By Russ and Ti\u00f1a De Maris<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Monday we broke the news<\/a> about what boils down to a ban of motorhome sales in California and five other states. At the time, our understanding was the clamp-down would affect only diesel motorhomes. It does not, as many gas motorhomes will likewise be affected. And, hold on. While sales of affected motorhomes in those states will cease in 2025\u2014several other states will follow suit thereafter. The RVIA has rung in with more information, which we\u2019ll cover here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This morning, the RV Industry Association (RVIA) released a fact sheet on the motorhome near-total \u201cban\u201d situation. You can read the entire fact-sheet here<\/a>, but we\u2019ll boil the matter down in this story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Page Contents<\/p>\n\n\n\n What created the situation? This year, California\u2019s Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulation, which aims to promote zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), will effectively create a near-total \u201cban\u201d on motorhome sales in the state. Other states that follow California\u2019s ACT regulation will see a similar shutdown. The regulation doesn\u2019t directly spell out a ban on motorhomes. But it does force medium- and heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers to increase the percentage of ZEVs they sell each year. Result? These manufacturers simple turned off the supply of old-fashioned internal combustion engine chassis. They\u2019ve done this simply because they don\u2019t have a supply of chassis fit for motorhome use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The RV industry saw it coming. Since 2020 it\u2019s been working with CARB (the California Air Resources Board\u2014creator of ACT) on how these regulations would affect the industry and RVers. Industry had hoped CARB would work in an exemption for recreational vehicles. That didn\u2019t happen. The situation is further complicated by more than just the ACT regulation. It also involves a trio of regulations passed in the last two to three years: the ACT, the Omnibus Low NOx rule, and the Advanced Clean Fleets rule. Together, these regulations are designed to transition medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2036.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, here\u2019s the nut of the matter, and we quote the RVIA fact sheet directly: \u201cThe RV Industry Association continues to work with CARB staff on the ACT with their staff looking to hear more from our members and understand why chassis manufacturers will not be able to deliver products. While we are continuing to work with manufacturers, dealers, and CARB to find a solution, if nothing changes, motorhomes will not be able to be sold and registered in California beginning in 2025. The exact date is still to be determined.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf nothing changes.\u201d If the RV industry and CARB can\u2019t come to a meeting of the minds\u2014and at this point it looks like a deadlock\u2014many motorhomes simply won\u2019t be sold or registered in California as of sometime in 2025. When we say \u201cmany\u201d motorhomes, just what are the brass tacks?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s the answer, according to the RVIA fact sheet. \u201cWhile the majority of the attention thus far has focused on Class A and Class C diesel motorhomes, the regulation, with a few exceptions, applies to all medium-duty or heavy-duty vehicles with combustion engines. Any non-exempted on-road vehicle over 8,500 GVWR is included [and] is covered by the regulation, including Class B motorhomes most of which have a GVWR over that amount.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we mentioned in our previous article, Ford indicates that it has enough ZEV credits to still sell some motorhome-useable chassis. In a letter from motorhome manufacturer Newmar to its dealers, the company wrote, \u201cFord has implied confirmation that the F53 chassis will be available for California and the other listed states as they have access to credits from their EV production.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some other industries are working to keep in the game by purchasing so-called \u201cclean air credits.\u201d This would allow them to continue to exceed air pollution limits. The RVIA is convinced that won\u2019t work for the motorhome industry. The fact sheet says this: \u201cCARB insists that this regulation gives flexibility to chassis manufacturers in being able to buy and sell ZEV credits to allow them to build combustion engine chassis. The amendments approved last month will also permit secondary vehicle manufacturers to buy and sell these credits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHowever, neither of these provisions will guarantee that chassis manufacturers will utilize these credits, which are likely to be expensive on the open market and would add another layer of cost to producing a motorhome with a combustion engine chassis. Thus, the RV Industry Association does not believe that a solution that offers only one path for compliance (purchasing expensive ACT credits) is actually a solution at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n CARB has made it clear that these regulations apply to new motorhomes. Pre-owned motorhomes are exempt, even if built after the ACT regulation went into effect. So just what constitutes \u201cpre-owned\u201d or used vehicle?<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was a question that RVIA for the board. According to the fact-sheet, \u201cCARB said that a used vehicle, defined as one with more than 7,500 miles on the odometer, could be brought in and registered. Any motorhome with less than 7,500 miles would be considered a new vehicle and would have to be compliant in order to be registered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In RVIA\u2019s view, next year California and these other states will essentially see a shutdown of sales of most motorhomes, diesel or gas. The other states are: Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington. However, four more states also observe the ACT regulation. The RVIA predicts Vermont will see a similar shutdown in 2026. And come 2027, the same situation will affect Colorado, Maryland, New Mexico, and Rhode Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of specific interest to California residents is this. What if you buy a motorhome in a state that doesn\u2019t comply with ACT and try to register that rig in California? It won\u2019t happen. The RVIA says, \u201cIn response to a question at the hearing about non-compliant vehicles coming in from out of state, CARB said that a used vehicle, defined as one with more than 7,500 miles on the odometer, could be brought in and registered. Any motorhome with less than 7,500 miles would be considered a new vehicle and would have to be compliant in order to be registered.\u201d<\/em> (Italics ours.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n But what if you live in a state that doesn\u2019t observe ACT? Could you buy a \u201cnon-compliant\u201d motorhome from a California dealer, with the understanding you\u2019ll register it in your home state? Nope. The prohibition prevents California dealers from selling non-compliant vehicles to anyone, including residents of states not subscribing to ACT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These new regulations will hit the RV industry in several states hard. And as many readers have pointed out in the past, \u201cWhere California goes, there goes the country.\u201d It\u2019s six states in 2025, and up to 10 by 2027. Who knows what the future will hold for the rest of the U.S. Motorhoming, as we know it, could become a thing of the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Revised, 11\/8\/2024 at 10:02, adding the section on pre-owned vehicles and CARB\u2019s view. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Common sense would tell you that motorhomes don’t get driven that much, so they don’t need to have the most stringent fuel efficiency and emissions standards. This will drive these states to sell more trailers, which will wear out these terrible truck designs to meet CARB regulations, e.g. smaller turbo charged engines that won’t last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9314,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9313\/revisions\/9314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"motorhome](\"https:\/\/www.rvtravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/tombstone-motorhome-696x417.jpg\" "\\"tombstone")
Motorhome ban controversy\u2014its genesis<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cIf nothing changes, motorhomes will not be able to be sold\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Motorhome ban\u2014Just what won\u2019t be able to be sold?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What about pre-owned motorhomes?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Six states next year\u2014more will follow<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"motorhome](\"https:\/\/www.rvtravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/motorhome-ban-map-by-year-485x340.jpg\")
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