Obama Sets Truck Fuel-Efficiency Standards

This story appears in the Aug. 15 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

President Obama last week set heavy-truck fuel-economy standards for the first time, unveiling regulations that mandate a 20% cut in fuel use and address the complicated broad universe of vehicle sizes and applications in a plan that both operators and manufacturers applauded.

American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves and representatives of truck and engine manufacturers met with Obama at the White House on Aug. 9 after a planned public ceremony was canceled to allow Obama to meet with families of the 30 servicemen killed when their helicopter was downed in Afghanistan.

The regulations, which the administration drew up in collaboration with the industry, received immediate, nearly unanimous support from trucking, truck and engine manufacturers, environmental interests and others.

Obama, announcing the new standards, said the trucking industry had sought them.

“While we were working to im-prove the efficiency of cars and light-duty trucks, something interesting happened,” the president said. “We started getting letters asking that we do the same for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. They were from the people who build, buy and drive these trucks.”

Obama said the trucking industry had sought the fuel-use standards and that, while they would raise truck prices, they would pay for themselves in the long run by cutting fuel expenses.

“This is a good day when we get a federal rulemaking that we think has a positive ROI [return on investment] on a horizon that we can actually see,” American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves told Transport Topics, referring to the regulation’s projected fuel savings.

Daniel Ustian, president of Navistar International Corp., said, “Navistar commends [the agencies] for developing one single, national standard for GHG [greenhouse gases] and fuel efficiency for medium- and heavy-duty engines and trucks.” The regulations also set standards for greenhouse gas emissions.

“Certainly, the regulation will challenge the industry, but our past success gives us confidence we’ll meet the challenge,” said Dennis Slagle, president of Volvo Trucks North America and Mack Trucks Inc.

“These new standards will reduce fuel costs for businesses, encourage innovation in the manufacturing sector and promote energy independence for America,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.

“The president was gracious, was very complimentary and appreciative of all that the industry had done to get us to this point,” Graves said.

ATA and many of the other organizations represented in that meeting worked closely with the Environmental Protection Agency and DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop the standards, following Obama’s May 2010 request for the regulations.

Administration officials told reporters that legislation setting energy policy did not allow the agencies to craft efficiency and emissions standards until the past few years. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 authorized the regulations, which were due to be issued in 2013, the officials said.

“Not everyone was in 100% agreement in the way the rule was ultimately put together, but in the end of the day, everyone agreed that this is good for us,” Graves said.

The new standards also benefit manufacturers, he said. “They can now go and do what they do best and compete and try to find the most fuel-efficient truck that’s still the most economical bargain.”

“Our focus now is on doing so in a way that minimizes any negative consequences for our customers,” Slagle said.

For tractor-trailers, the regulations limit CO2 emissions and fuel consumption per ton-mile based on the weight a vehicle is designed to haul, rather than the standard miles-per-gallon limits used for automobiles and light trucks. The regulations also set standards for large pickup trucks, buses and vocational trucks.

Closely following the plan proposed in October, the standards placed tractor-trailers into nine categories based on the tractor’s size and roof height (11-1, p. 1).

The size categories are Class 7, Class 8 day cab and Class 8 sleeper cab, and the roof heights are low, mid-height and high. The standards will phase in, with one step in 2014 and another in 2017, although the fuel consumption standards are optional for 2014 and 2015 model years.

CO2 emissions standards, which EPA developed, prescribe limits ranging from 66 grams per ton-mile for a high-roof Class 8 sleeper to 120 grams per ton-mile for a low-roof Class 7 by 2017.

Fuel consumption limits, developed by NHTSA, range from 6.5 gallons per ton-mile for the high-roof Class 8 sleeper to 11.8 gallons per ton-mile for the low-roof Class 7. The limits are slightly more lax than those proposed in October.

EPA and DOT estimated that the new heavy truck standards will save four gallons of fuel for every 100 miles traveled. The agencies estimated that trucks in model years 2010 to 2013 obtain an average of 4.95 mpg.

Agency officials told reporters that the 2017 standards would add about $6,220 to the cost of a heavy truck, but they would pay off in fuel savings in less than a year. The fuel savings will total about $73,000 throughout the life cycle of a truck, they said.

Over the lifetime of all heavy-duty vehicles that are regulated under these standards and produced between 2014 and 2018, the standards will save 530 million barrels of oil and reduce carbon emissions by about 270 metric tons, the agencies said. They will save vehicle owners about $50 billion in fuel costs and provide about $49 billion in societal benefits.