Now that cars are lighter, smaller and have better fuel efficiency, the US Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency are now turning their attention to trucks that haul freight.
Last week, the two agencies called for tougher fuel efficiency standards on medium and heavy-duty vehicles to be built between 2021 and 2027, including semi-trailer trucks, large pickups, vans and all types of buses and delivery vehicles.
The new standards would require CO2 emissions and fuel consumption to be lowered by 24% over the current truck standards.
A Long Road to Enforcement
Just because the agencies are asking for these tougher new standards doesn’t necessarily mean they will become law. The announcement was simply the beginning of a long process in which the agencies will consider comments from industry leaders and other interested parties for 60 days before the proposal is officially published in the Federal Register. There also will be at least two public hearings.
According to Transportation Department officials, if the new standards are put into place, they will lower C02 emissions by about 1 billion metric tons. They also will reduce fuel costs by an estimated $170 billion and reduce oil consumption by up to 1.8 billion barrels over the lifetime of the vehicles sold between the target years.
These projected reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are nearly the same amount used by all the homes in the US for one year. And the total oil savings would be more than the US imports from all the OPEC countries put together in one year.
Higher Production Costs
The downside is that they likely would drive up the cost of trucks, at least initially. Truck makers would have to invest heavily in new engineering that allowed their vehicles to hit these standards. Manufacturing processes would have to be changed, assembly lines reconfigured, and all of these costs eventually would be passed onto consumers.
But the Transportation Department said that according to its estimates, the buyer of a new long-haul truck in 2027 would be able to recover all of these higher costs through fuel savings in just two years.
The vehicles covered under the proposal currently account for only 5% of the vehicles on the road, but about 20% of all the greenhouse gas emissions and fuel usage in the US.
Technologies Already Exist
According the proposal unveiled last week, the standards rely on cost-effective technologies to enhance fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are currently available or in development, including improved transmissions, engine combustion optimization, aerodynamic improvements, and low rolling resistance tires.
It also relies on the industry adopting cost-effective technologies for trailers, such as aerodynamic devices, lightweight construction, and self-inflating tires.
The proposal also allows for the manufacturers to banks and trade emissions credits so that they can choose the most cost-effective ways to meet the government standards.
The current fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emission standards for trucks went into effect in 2014 and will remain in place through 2018. New vehicles in2013 achieved their highest fuel economy of all time.