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Webinar Q&A | GMA Trucking’s Pilot Procurement: Lessons Learned and the Road Ahead

In January 2026, GMA Trucking announced the results of its pilot procurement that will enable the largest known deployment of Class 8 zero-emission trucks in Texas, and which showed the effectiveness of a market-based approach to accelerate deep decarbonization within the heavy-duty trucking industry. Shortly following the announcement, GMA hosted a webinar featuring GMA Trucking team members, the winning carrier Nevoya, and representatives of two corporate buyers discussing the procurement, lessons learned, and the road ahead. A recording and transcript can be found here. The compiled Q&A from that webinar is shared below. This includes questions that were answered live during the webinar, as well as those left unaddressed during the session because of time constraints. Please reach out to trucking@gmacenter.org with any further questions.

Question	GMA Trucking Answer
How are the environmental attribute certificates (EACs) certified/verified?	The ZETc will be verified by an ISO 17029 accredited verifier for the application of ISO 14065, and in alignment with the requirements of ISO 14083 to calculate the emissions intensity of the transport activity (gCO2e/tonne-km).
Will the environmental attributes be sold and transferred via a registry?	Yes. Third-party registries are a critical part of the EAC market to ensure transparency and credibility. GMA Trucking is currently finalizing the registry provider but expects to have a functioning registry in time for the first generation of attributes to ensure accurate tracking and transparency.
Approximately how many years does it take for the lower operating costs to reach breakeven with the purchase cost of a battery electric vehicle?	There is no uniform answer, as both capital and operating costs will vary significantly across deployment opportunities. It depends on many factors, such as, but not limited to: vehicle mileage, diesel price, electricity price, demand charges, charging ownership model, charging infrastructure costs, and others. This leads to a wide range of payback periods, from only a few years^[1][2], to many years, or possibly never.
How do zero-emission truck sales compare to overall truck sales?	While global sales of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks are slowly increasing (on pace for upwards of 4% of all new sales in 2025), that increase is driven almost entirely by China, where sales approach 15%^[3]. In contrast, the U.S. market has stalled. Bloomberg NEF and Smart Freight Centre’s Accelerating the Transition report notes that zero-emission truck sales peaked at under 0.5% in Q2 2024 and dropped below 0.1% in the first half of 2025, with fewer than 200 zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks sold nationwide^[4]. This is in contrast to the over 200,000 diesel class 8 trucks sold in the same year.
Are 45V tax credits for clean hydrogen production still up under the new administration?	Yes, though the deadline for projects to begin construction has shortened. Projects must now start construction prior to January 1, 2028.
What is the energy source powering the winning carriers’ electric vehicles, and is GMA Trucking basing its analysis on Well-to-Wheel calculation?	Yes – ZETc are based on well-to-wheel (WTW) emissions intensity. As part of the RFP, GMA Trucking specified that the charging infrastructure used must be backed by renewable electricity. This could be accomplished either by using behind the meter on-site renewables or by purchasing a renewable energy product (e.g., Green-e eligible REC) equal to the volume of electricity utilized to charge the vehicles. The energy used for trucking services will align with GLEC Framework and ISO 14083, which provides the methodology to measure the WTW emissions intensity per transport activity (tonne-km). This includes an approach to account for losses in the charging infrastructure while considering the data sources available. Per the standard, both location-based (using grid intensity) and market-based (using any contractual electricity certificates) emissions intensities will be calculated.
At what point in the process are vehicles purchased by the winning carrier?	The pilot RFP was open to bids for existing and/or net-new vehicles, though there was a preference for net-new. For existing vehicles, GMA Trucking only considered vehicles that were already deployed but underutilized, or deployed but operating at a loss. Net-new vehicles were defined as those not yet purchased by the carrier. For bids with net-new vehicles, carriers were given the flexibility to purchase vehicles when they felt confident in execution. The vehicles deployed by Nevoya for this procurement were net-new, purchased after selection as the winning bid.
When will the trucks be deployed?	GMA Trucking expects the trucks generating the EACs to be deployed and in operation by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
Was the winning carrier able to fully satisfy the demands of the GMA Trucking members?	Yes, Nevoya is able to satisfy the final demand of GMA Trucking members.
What incentivizes shippers to buy EACs?	Shippers purchase EACs to meet their climate goals when decarbonized trucking services are not available on the routes used to physically move their goods. In these instances, shippers use EACs as a tool to complement their ongoing efforts to push their direct logistics providers to decarbonize their operations.
Is GMA Trucking’s model structured so that the EACs are only sold with the Scope 3 attribute, or also Scope 1?	The GMA Trucking program is set up for corporates to buy scope 3 EACs only – the carrier driving the zero-emission trucks claims any impact on scope 1 or 2 emissions.
Has GMA Trucking considered sharing lessons learned or releasing recommendations for these types of agreements?	Lessons learned from GMA Trucking’s pilot procurement will be shared in an upcoming White Paper. We are excited to connect with the market to share what we can about EAC offtake agreements.
How do you see GMA Trucking’s program scaling?	A key focus for GMA is to grow and scale programs past the pilot stages. The results from the GMA Trucking pilot will drive momentum and interest to scale up future efforts for larger impacts. It will also provide us, and the members, with the information and supporting infrastructure to transact more efficiently, including base contracting language and registry issuances. The standards landscape is also positioning to bolster demand for the program, as SBTi, GHGP, and AIM plan to release updates on the inclusion of market-based mechanisms like ZETc in coming months. GMA Trucking is currently considering how to structure its next RFP and is considering how it may pair book and claim with physical procurement.
Will a recording of the webinar be shared publicly?	Yes. The recording, slides, and a transcript can be found here.

[1] https://theicct.org/cost-electric-semi-feb22/

[2] https://www.terawattinfrastructure.com/blog/how-to-better-predict-your-ev-fleets-total-cost-of-ownership

[3] https://assets.bbhub.io/professional/sites/24/Zero-Emission-Commercial-Vehicles-Factbook-2025.pdf

[4] Ibid.