New federally-mandated fuel economy standards for long-haul rigs will affect trucker owner operators and transport companies alike.
Here are some excerpts from a press release just issued by The Diesel Technology Forum in relation to new federal rules for big-truck mileage performance.
Diesel engines – which power more than 95 percent of America’s commercial trucks and 85 percent of its buses – will play a central role of the United States’ new effort to reduce fuel consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the years ahead.
The final rules issued this morning by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) establish a national program to reduce GHG emissions and establish new fuel efficiency standards for commercial trucks and buses beginning in 2014 through 2018.
Many initial gains in fuel efficiency will be realized through improvements in the efficiency of the diesel engines. This will include further advances in combustion efficiency, waste heat recovery, improved efficiency through advanced turbocharging and fuel injection. Other technologies such as lower rolling resistance tires and aerodynamics, idle reduction strategies and other approaches may also be suitable as a total vehicle approach.
Some vehicles may be more appropriate for some solutions than others. For example long haul trucks can benefit from aerodynamic improvements that cut vehicle drag and save fuel because they operate at higher average speeds. However local pickup and delivery trucks would not benefit from aerodynamics but would benefit from increased use of hybrid powertrains because of the stop and go nature of their operations.
We’ll update you again soon on the reaction from owner operators, regarding the new rules…
