California Generator Ban: What it Means For RVers

Above, dry campers most often rely on their RV generators for power to run appliances. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

 

In a follow-up to Saturday's Newsletter, RV Travel discusses the ramifications of California's ban on small gasoline-powered equipment such as lawn mowers, leaf blowers, along with RV and portable generators.

They start it with:

Thursday’s decision by the State of California Air Resources Board (CARB) has angered RV manufacturers and worried RVers. But the seeming generator ban may mean much more to industry than to RVers on the ground.

On RV generators, they wrote:

For now, absolutely nothing changes. RV retailers in the Golden State can go on selling RVs with on-board generators to their heart’s content. But by 2028, the music stops. Industry representatives complained long and hard. They said this could easily spell the shutdown of a third of the state’s dealerships once the new rule goes into effect. Others testified that RV dealers would relocate across the border in neighboring states and sell RVs with smoggy generators.

The RV industry made a concerted effort to get CARB to rule that RV-mounted generators should be classified as “stationary.” This would have exempted them from the new rules. Industry threw towable RV owners under the bus with their stand, but no matter – CARB wouldn’t hear the argument anyway.

But for you and me, the new rules will take a while to have much of an effect. Even when 2028 rolls around, a “generator ban” there won’t really be. For folks visiting California, your generator, no matter how old, is still lawful. For California resident RVers, your existing generators can continue to be used – and repaired. That goes on until they finally die their own death. However, with the increase of ZEE equipment, it will be interesting to see if there’s an impact on repair shops in California. Will they still have service departments that can handle repairs? The testimony of some equipment retailers suggests some are downright worried that they’ll be able to keep service departments operating.

Keep in mind, all of these new rules apply only to GASOLINE-powered units. If you fancy an RV with a diesel-fired generator, this so-called generator ban has no effect.

To read the full article, go here.