NEW DELHI: All new trucks manufactured on or after October 1, 2025, must be equipped with AC cabins for drivers, as the Road Transport and Highways Ministry has issued a notification for mandating air-conditioned truck cabins. In a gazette notification, the ministry has said, “…the vehicles manufactured on or after October 1, 2025, shall be fitted with an air-conditioning system for the cabin of vehicles of N2 and N3 category”. The testing of the cabin fitted with an air-conditioning system shall be as per IS14618:2022, it added. In July, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said the draft notification to mandate the installation of air-conditioning systems in the cabins of trucks has been approved. Recently, the minister said that truck drivers play a key role in the transport sector, one of the most important areas for India, and there is a need to address issues regarding their working conditions and state of mind. Air-conditioned cabins for trucks will soon be made mandatory, Gadkari had said. Lamenting that truck drivers have been forced to work in extreme heat conditions, the minister said that he has been pushing for air-conditioned cabins for truck drivers for a long time even as “some people objected to it saying it will increase costs”.
