GHG Proposal Manageable, Largest Trailer Makers Say
This story appears in the March 7 print edition of Transport Topics.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Executives with North America’s two largest truck-trailer makers said they expect to meet Phase 2 federal greenhouse-gas regulations to be issued this year, even though parts of the proposal are ill-considered.
Trailer makers are included in the GHG initiative for the first time, as Phase 1 covered only truck and engine makers.
The Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in the Phase 2 proposal last year that the rule will affect trailers starting in 2018.
“We have aerodynamic devices that can meet — based on the standard that has been discussed — the 2018, ’21, ’24 expectations and needs,” Dick Giromini, CEO of Wabash National Corp., told Transport Topics in a Feb. 29 interview here. “2027 is a little different story. That’s going to take some new breakthrough technology to be able to get to those levels.”
EPA’s website said the agency expects to publish a final rule in August.
Speaking at his company’s exhibit booth at the Technology & Maintenance Council’s annual meeting, Giromini said his main concern is “the cost element for customers, especially for those who will not benefit from the
fuel-economy savings side because they won’t get up to highway speeds for long enough periods of time to really benefit from it. So they really are not going to reduce greenhouse gas.”
Many trailer makers filed comments with EPA in 2015, saying its assumptions on how trailers operate are faulty.
Speed, for example, creates wind drag that forces the truck’s engine to work harder and generate more carbon dioxide, but aerodynamic attachments smooth out airflow.
While many trailers do travel at highway speed — 55 mph or faster — for hours at a time, trailer makers said it is not always the case. Trailers used in pickup-and-delivery or regional distribution work rarely travel that fast, the manufacturers said, and even longhaul truckers spend time moving slowly through traffic jams, all of which lessens the value of aerodynamic devices.
Giromini agreed, saying a shorthaul carrier with an average speed of 30 mph will not see much benefit but likely will face additional costs for the mandated devices.
Environmental regulators and safety regulators who govern trailer size probably should meet so they do not undercut each other, Giromini said.
“It will take some acceptance on the part of the regulators to accommodate some changes in what the basic dimensions of a trailer can be. Right now, we’re limited by height, width, length and you need to have some flexibility,” he said. “Otherwise, you significantly negatively impact the cargo-carrying capacity of the trailer with the current design.”
Among the areas that could yield more aerodynamic improvement are trailer-nose design and reducing the gap between the tractor and trailer.
While the gap issue can be tricky when matching up dozens of different trailers with different trucks, Giromini said that far better collaboration has developed through programs such as the Department of Energy’s SuperTruck initiative.
Charles Fetz, vice president for design and development of Great Dane Trailers, told TT on March 2 that he is sympathetic to the notion of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, but he is eager to see the final rule before passing judgment.
“It remains to be seen what they actually will come out with. We’re pleased with the effort so far, but this is a monumental rule,” said Fetz, who wrote Great Dane’s regulatory comments.
The company’s clear preference, he said, is for discussion working toward a rule based on real-life operations.
“That’s much better than lawsuits,” Fetz said. “If it gets to ‘see you on the courthouse steps,’ that’s not good.”
Two fine points that concern him are tire systems and the government’s emissions modeling. Tire-pressure monitoring is something Fetz endorses, even in the 2018 round, but there also has been talk of mandatory automated tire-inflation systems, and that is a crucial distinction, he said.
Underinflated tires cause the engine to burn more fuel and therefore emit more carbon dioxide.
Much of the rule is based on EPA’s greenhouse-gas emissions model, or GEM. Fetz said it will be important to comb through those assumptions carefully, to see if they reflect the way the industry operates.
Also last week in Washington, EPA and NHTSA filed a notice in the Federal Register seeking comment on technical portions of the Phase 2 proposal.
The notice asks for feedback on a number of issues, including the latest version of GEM and powertrain data from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Included in the filing was an memorandum refuting claims by the Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association that EPA lacks authority to adopt requirements applicable to the “entity assembling a tractor-trailer combination.”
“The argument that a trailer, or a glider kit, standing alone, is not self-propelled and therefore is not a motor vehicle, appears to miss the key issues of authority under the Clean Air Act to promulgate emission standards for motor vehicles produced in discrete segments,” EPA said. “There is no question that EPA is authorized to establish emission standards under this provision for complete new motor vehicles, and thus can promulgate emission standards for air pollutants emitted by tractor-trailers and by glider vehicles.”
Staff Reporter Eric Miller contributed to the article.
