There’s no easy way to approach this, so let’s dive in together.
Starting on January 1st of 2025, Washington State may halt sales of new gas or diesel Motor Homes due to legislation called the CARB Act.
What is the CARB Act? The California Air Resources Board has enacted the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) Regulation. The goal of this is to accelerate the production of zero-emission trucks: a laudable goal. However, given the current availability of zero-emission RV-suitable chassis, this could cause serious disruption in the RV industry.
But, you think, that’s California. This is Washington.
Washington State (as well as Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Oregon) have chosen to follow the standards set by California starting in 2025. Rules in Vermont will take effect in the 2026 model year, and those in Colorado, Maryland, New Mexico, and Rhode Island in the 2027 model year.
As a result, RV Manufacturers will be restricted from selling gas or diesel vehicles over 8,500 pounds unless they first meet the Zero-Emissions sales targets.
This was not a decision that we at Poulsbo RV had much time to anticipate.
“It’s caught us all off guard,” Will Rogers, General Manager at Poulsbo RV in Everett, said in a KIRO news radio interview. “I don’t know of any manufacturers with an EV program yet,” Rogers noted, adding that all brands on his lot will be affected by these new rules.
“It’s disheartening,” he continued, “We thought there was a possibility that RVs wouldn’t be affected, but it turns out they are. We’re trying to keep 2024 chassis available for next year so people can still buy new diesel vehicles,” he said.
The restrictions on new 2025 sales apply only to RVs with engines manufactured in 2025. But the RV Industry Association reported that some manufacturers are already withdrawing from CARB-regulated markets.
Beyond what is written here, there are still many details which are still unclear.
What We Know
To keep this simple, this is what we know for 2025:
- Consumers will not be able to register Diesel Class Aa and most Super C Diesel Motor Homes in Washington state if the chassis itself was built after January 1st, 2025
- Manufacturers will not sell dealers in Washington any Diesel Motor Homes that have a chassis built after January 1st, 2025
- An important note is that this applies to the RV’s Chassis. The motor home could be built after January 1st, 2025, but it must have a 2024 chassis
- Freightliner will not supply any motor home manufacturer with chassis that will be certified to be registered by a consumer into these ACT compliant states as of January 1st, 2025
Some good news:
- All current Poulsbo RV inventory is compliant
- Mercedes/Sprinter chassis motor homes are compliant
- Ford gas motorhomes are compliant because they have enough EV sales to offsets
- We are told Super C’s built on the Ford F550 chassis will be compliant due to offsets
The RV industry has been fighting to get an exemption for motor homes, but was unsuccessful. This is the unfortunate reality. But the situation is still fluid. We will do our best to provide you with the most up to date information we have going forward.
Plus, we’ll do our best to continue to inform the Poulsbo RV Family about developments in this matter, as well as provide you the Best Motor Homes and Towables that we can.
Travel Safely.
