California requires cleaner lift trucks

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 6/1/2006

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted at the end of May to approve stricter emission standards for lift trucks.

The new rules, which are the toughest in the nation, have two elements. The first requires manufacturers to offer cleaner non-electric lift trucks for sale in California by 2010. The second requires lift truck operators to meet fleet-average emission levels, primarily by retrofitting or replacing older trucks. This element will be phased in beginning in 2009.

Gary Cross, an attorney for the Industrial Truck Association, says he currently sees no indication other states will enact similar standards for operators or for manufacturers. Because manufacturers usually do not offer different trucks in California than in other parts of the country, however, he predicts the entire nation will feel the effects of the new rules.