Alternative Fuels ‘Back on the Menu’ at ACT Expo
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ANAHEIM, Calif. — With regulatory and policy changes reducing the urgency for fleet operators to deploy zero-emission trucks, other pathways to a more environmentally sustainable future are regaining momentum.
Speakers and exhibitors at the 2025 Advanced Clean Transportation Expo illustrated a growing interest in cleaner-burning and renewable fuels for the tried-and-true internal combustion engine.
While battery-electric truck models and hydrogen fuel cell technology remained abundant in the expo hall and continued to show progress, alternative fuels such as natural gas — especially renewable natural gas — and renewable diesel attracted significantly more attention than they did at the same event last year.
Jennifer Rumsey, chair and CEO of engine maker and alternative power system supplier Cummins Inc., addressed this expanded approach to decarbonization during ACT Expo’s opening keynote.
“We’re in a very different place than we were a year ago,” Rumsey said. “We always knew the energy transition was going to be dynamic, and it’s clear now that it’s going to be even more dynamic, more uncertain, more divergent than we ever thought it would be.”
Rumsey calls for clear and challenging but achievable emissions regulations during her keynote remarks. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
Last year, regulations were driving the transportation industry toward net-zero emissions, and companies were investing record dollars to meet those goals, Rumsey said.
Since last year’s U.S. presidential election, however, the second Trump administration has taken action to reconsider federal emission regulations and re-evaluate funding for clean transportation investments, while also wielding tariffs as a tool to reconfigure international trade.
“There’s more uncertainty than ever before about the role regulations, incentives and trade policies will play in the future of our industry,” Rumsey said. “Regulations may not drive us as quickly towards a net-zero future.”
While the last couple years “have clearly been dominated by zero-emission technologies,” the industry has shifted this year toward an “all of the above” approach, said Erik Neandross, president of the clean transportation solutions group at TRC, the environmental consulting firm that organizes ACT Expo.
Neandross provides an update on sustainable transportation. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
At the state level, California’s Air Resources Board earlier this year dropped its Advanced Clean Fleets rule, which would have required fleet operators to adopt an increasing percentage of zero-emission trucks over time.
“With the CARB ACF regulation now off the table, and some other big changes happening on the policy and regulatory front, everything is back on the menu,” Neandross said. “States like California for the most part are no longer requiring only zero tailpipe emissions as the exclusive approach, and that provides a lot of optionality for fleets.”
Although the pace of adoption and the mix of technologies may shift, the transportation industry’s march toward sustainability will continue, he said.
“In spite of all the change and uncertainty in many, many places right now, it’s clear to me that the industry remains super committed to moving forward with advanced tech and cleaner fuels and a more sustainable future,” Neandross said. “We’re past the point of no return. We’re only moving forward at this point.”
ACT Expo, which ran April 28-May 1, drew about 12,000 attendees and featured more than 200 clean commercial vehicles in the exhibit hall and on the plaza in front of the Anaheim Convention Center.
Alternative fuels such as renewable natural gas attracted significant attention. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
Among the vehicles on display were multiple Class 8 trucks equipped with Cummins’ new 15-liter natural gas engine, the X15N.
During a panel discussion at the conference, several fleet executives shared their experiences and perspectives on the journey to reduce emissions in the transportation industry.
From natural gas to renewable diesel, alternative fuels for the traditional internal combustion engine are attracting a lot of attention at this year. — Seth Clevenger (@SethClevenger)
While industry adoption of natural gas has fluctuated over the years, the expanded availability of renewable natural gas has made the fuel more attractive to shippers, said Ben Schill, chief corporate development officer at truckload carrier Paper Transport.
“We are now experiencing this renaissance of interest in renewable natural gas solutions that we haven’t had in maybe a 6-year period,” he said.
Paper Transport, which began operating compressed natural gas-powered trucks in 2010, recently surpassed 80 million miles with the alternative fuel.
Schillsays interest in natural gas as a trucking fuel is experiencing a “renaissance." (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
By utilizing RNG, the trucking company is helping its customers achieve their sustainability goals through cleaner transportation, Schill said.
Paper Transport, based in De Pere, Wis., ranks No. 93 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America.
Global restaurant logistics company Martin Brower has deployed trucks powered by an array of clean power sources, including battery-electric vehicles, natural gas and renewable diesel.
Martin Brower CEO Sarah Burke said environmental sustainability remains a top consideration for the fleet operator and its business partners.
“It’s no less important for our customers,” she said. “It’s no less important to us.”
Burke discusses Martin Brower’s investments in environmental sustainability. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
Burke said Martin Brower collaborates with its customers on sustainability projects to help find opportunities to improve efficiency.
While making deliveries to restaurants in the United Kingdom, for example, Martin Brower’s fleet collects customers’ used cooking oil, then consolidates it at its distribution center and works with a refiner to turn it into biodiesel, which in turn goes back into the company’s trucks as fuel.
Martin Brower is part of food and beverage distributor Reyes Holdings, which ranks No. 6 on TT’s Top 100 list of North America’s largest private fleets.
In addition to zero- and low-emission trucks, this year’s ACT Expo featured more dialogue and exhibits focused on the latest advances in commercial vehicle data and software, including software-defined vehicles, autonomous driving and artificial intelligence.
Views from the exhibit hall at 2025 in Anaheim: — Seth Clevenger (@SethClevenger)
The development of software-defined vehicles will enable manufacturers to update a truck’s software after it has been shipped, making it much easier to add new features and capabilities, said Peter Ludwig, co-founder and chief technology officer at Applied Intuition, a vehicle software and artificial intelligence firm.
“Vehicles that are not software defined are going to start to look a lot like steam locomotives,” he said. “They’ll be obsolete because they won’t have the features and functionality that the software-defined vehicles will have.”
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