This week on the RV Podcast:









* We answer all your questions about the controversial clean air regulations in California that are threatening to limit the availability of all large motorhomes in a bunch of states starting next year.







* Is an all-electric, no water RV toilet right for you? Maybe… we’ll tell you the pros and cons 







* Plus, the Social Media Buzz and your questions coming up in Episode #525 of the RV Podcast









You can watch the video version from our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel by clicking the player below.















Click below for an audio player:















Weekly Update















As we’ve been reporting, a half dozen states have stringent clean air regulations threatening the availability of gas-and diesel-powered RVs built after Jan 1, 2025. 







California, Washington, New York, Oregon, Massachusetts, and New Jersey are the states affected… though there is some indication this week that a few of those states may push back the effective date.







This all stems from California's Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulation, which, aims to increase the adoption of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by requiring manufacturers of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to sell a growing percentage of ZEVs each year. This initiative has raised concerns within the RV industry about its potential impact on motorhome sales.







Now, these rules are not directed at RV Companies, per se, but at the companies that provide the chassis on which those motorhomes are built. We’re talking all motorhomes, by the way, Class B, C, and A… and chassis using gas and diesel engines.







On Tuesday Dec. 3, the Recreational Vehicles Industry Association (the RVIA)  held a webinar to try and aleve industry and consumer confusion and concern - you could say near panic - about these very complicated regulations.







The key takeaway is the industry, which had been claiming that these clean air regulations would create a motorhome sales ban, has now backed way off on the use of the word “ban.”







Instead, they are now saying after meetings with California officials that while sales and registrations of new motorhomes in California and the other states are not prohibited after Jan 1… the regulations “may affect the availability of motorhomes there."







We’ve been extensively reporting this for a month now, and as the story has been picked up by major news outlets and the mainstream press, it’s become big news. 







Despite Tuesday’s webinar and meetings between the RVIA and California clean air officials, there’s probably even more confusion now. 







So in this episode of the podcast, I want to try and sort it all out by answering the many questions I can about what is now is no longer called the California Motorhome Ban by the RVIA but instead is now called a threat to the “availability” of motorhomes.







At the end of this update, I’ll tell you of two more complications involving the RV industry and California’s clean air regulators. So stay tuned for that. And Jennifer will join me after this update for the rest of the podcast.







So. here are the questions I’m getting the most.







Q: Does the ACT regulation explicitly ban the sale of new motorhomes in California?







A: No, the ACT regulation does not explicitly ban new motorhome sales. The word ban is not used. And the RVIA, as I just noted, has backed away from using that word. However, there are a lot of people who are saying the pr...