Utah Joins States to Enact Weight Allowance for NGVs

Utah has administratively enacted the 2,000 pound weight allowance for heavy-duty natural gas vehicles effective August 2018. Utah joins a long list of states that have adopted changes to state law that allow the added weight on natural gas trucks.

The weight allowance, also codified in federal law because of the FAST Act of 2015, is intended to address the fact that the fuel systems on natural gas trucks can add several thousand pounds to the weight of a truck. The allowance ensures that trucking firms that move to cleaner-burning natural gas can continue to pull a full load without having to reduce the weight of cargo. Thus, a fully loaded natural gas truck can weight up to 82,000 pounds under federal law, and now increasingly in many states.

NGVAmerica has made adoption of the weight provision a major priority of its state legislative effort the past couple of years. There are now 29 states that accommodate the extra weight for natural gas vehicles:

• Ten states approved in 2016 — (AZ, CO, IL, KS, LA, MN, NC, NM, OK, SC)
• Two states say this is already allowed — (WA, WY – they charge a small fee)
• Eleven states approved in 2017 — (FL, IA, MI, MO, NV, NY, OR, PA, TX, VA, WI)
• Six states approved in 2018 — (AL, CA, NE, NJ, RI, UT)