WASHINGTON — Work will begin immediately to develop a second round of fuel-performance standards for heavy trucks starting in model year 2019, an Environmental Protection Agency official said Wednesday.
“We expect the same kind of interactive, collaborative process, with the same partners we worked with last time,” said Christopher Grundler, director of EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality.
Those involved in the previous round of heavy-truck regulations, which were released in 2011, include truck and engine makers, the Department of Transportation, the state of California and non-governmental organizations, Grundler told Transport Topics in an interview at this week’s Alternative Clean Transportation Expo.
Current heavy-truck standards designed to reduce fuel consumption and emissions are in place through 2018. In a speech primarily on the issue of climate change Tuesday, President Obama mentioned that new round of truck emissions regulations would be forthcoming.
The new standards will cover Classes 2-8, Grundler said, adding that no end-timeline has yet been determined for the 2019 start date for the new standards. No targets for reducing consumptions and emissions have been set, he told TT.
“That’s a question we’ve asked ourselves, and we’re going to ask the stakeholders what kind of long-term regulatory signal would be useful,” Grundler said.
“I think, ultimately, the data analysis will drive those decisions in terms of what we know about the technology prospects and the costs and effectiveness,” he said.
Vehicle standards are performance-based, meaning they will be “fuel-neutral,” Grundler added. “If you are using a low-carbon fuel like natural gas, you have an advantage.”
