More than 28% of all trucks registered in the United States — 2.5 million of 8.6 million trucks — are now equipped with advanced new technology clean diesel engines, according to new data compiled by R.L. Polk and Co. for the Diesel Technology Forum.
The data, released Monday by DTF, include registration information on Classes 3-8 trucks from 2007 through 2012. Beginning in 2007, all heavy-duty diesel trucks sold had to meet particulate emissions levels of 0.01 grams per brake horsepower-hour, a level near zero.
“The fact that more than 28% of all trucks on U.S. roads today are new technology diesel engines with near-zero emissions is significant for the environment and the trucking industry,” said Allen Schaeffer, the Diesel Technology Forum’s executive director.
“More than 95% of all heavy-duty trucks are diesel-powered, as are a majority of medium-duty trucks,” he said, adding that “diesel power is the driving force today of goods movement by truck in our economy and they are continuing to play a central role of the United States’ new effort to reduce fuel consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions.”
Regionally, the Midwest has the highest percentage of new diesel trucks (31%), followed by the South (29.8%), the Northeast (29.1%), and the West (26%).
Schaeffer will be on the plenary session panel Tuesday at the Alternative Clean Transportation Expo in Washington.
