The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) jointly finalized standards for medium and heavy duty vehicles that will improve fuel efficiency and cut carbon pollution, while bolstering energy security and spurring manufacturing innovation.
The final phase two program promotes a new generation of cleaner, more fuel efficient trucks by encouraging the wider application of currently available technologies and the development of new and advanced cost effective technologies through model year 2027. The final standards are expected to lower CO2 emissions by approximately 1.1 billion metric tons, save vehicle owners fuel costs of about $170 billion, and reduce oil consumption by up to two billion barrels over the lifetime of the vehicles sold under the program.
Heavy duty trucks are the second largest segment and collectively make up the biggest increase in the U.S. transportation sector in terms of emissions and energy use. These vehicles currently account for about 20 percent of GHG emissions and oil use in the U.S. transportation sector. Globally, GHG emissions from heavy duty vehicles are growing rapidly and are expected to surpass emissions from passenger vehicles by 2030.
The product of four years of extensive testing and research and outreach to industry, environmental organizations, labor unions and other stakeholders, the vehicle and engine performance standards would cover model years 2021 to 2027, and apply to semi-trucks, large pickup trucks and vans, and all types and sizes of buses and work trucks.
The agencies are also finalizing fuel efficiency and GHG standards for trailers for the first time. The EPA trailer standards, which exclude certain categories such as mobile homes, will begin to take effect in model year 2018 for certain trailers, while NHTSA’s standards will take effect as of 2021, with credits available for voluntary participation before then. Cost effective technologies for trailers – including aerodynamic devices, light weight construction and self-inflating tires – can significantly reduce total fuel consumption by tractor trailers, while paying back the owners in less than two years due to the fuel saved. Recognizing that many trailer manufacturers are small businesses, the program includes provisions that reduce burden, such as a one year delay in initial standards for small businesses and simplified certification requirements.
Compared to the proposal, the final program:
- Achieves 10 percent more GHG and fuel consumption reductions;
- Has more robust compliance provisions, including improved test procedures, enhanced enforcement audits and protection against defeat devices;
- Includes more stringent diesel engine standards
- Improves the vocational vehicle program with a regulatory structure better tailored to match the right technology for the job;
- Maintains the structure and incremental phase-in of the proposed standards, allowing manufacturers to choose their own technology mix and giving them the lead time needed to ensure those technologies are reliable and durable.
NHTSA and EPA have worked closely with the State of California’s Air Resources Board in developing and finalizing the standards. All three agencies are committed to the goal of setting harmonized national standards.
The final rulemaking builds on the fuel efficiency and GHG emissions standards already in place for model years 2014-2018, which alone will result in CO2 emissions reductions of 270 million metric tons and save vehicle owners more than $50 billion in fuel costs. Truck sales were up in model years 2014 and 2015, the years covered under the first round of truck standards.
For more details on DOT’s and EPA’s phase two greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency standards for medium and heavy duty vehicles, visit: https://www3.epa.gov/otaq/climate/regs-heavy-duty.htm and http://www.nhtsa.gov/fuel-economy
Published in the October 2016 Edition of American Recycler News