New Truck Fuel Efficiency Rules Issued.

Aug 10, 2011

NTEA Efforts Address Work Truck Industry Concerns

 

President Obama announced on Aug. 9, 2011 the first fuel efficiency standards for trucks. These new rules will be in effect for model year 2014-2018 medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. The NTEA has been actively involved with this issue since Congress first suggested the concept in 2006. The rules create a special category that addresses the concerns of the work truck industry.

 

The rules were drafted jointly by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and each agency has adopted complementary standards under their respective authorities covering greenhouse gas reduction and fuel efficiency. Separate requirements cover the three main regulatory categories:

• Combination tractors
• Heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans
• Vocational vehicles

The regulated vehicles typically carry payloads in addition to passengers. The regulations recognize the work nature of trucks via two types of metrics: payload-dependent gram per mile (and gallon per 100-mile) standards for pickups and vans; and gram per ton-mile (and gallon per 1,000 ton-mile) standards for vocational vehicles and combination tractors.

 

Vocational Vehicles

This rule categorizes vocational vehicles as Class 2b-8 vehicles that fall neither in the combination tractor nor the heavy-duty pickup truck and van categories.

 

The agencies have agreed with the NTEA's concerns over the possible regulatory burdens that could be faced by NTEA Distributor and Manufacturer members in this category. Under this category, the regulatory requirements fall on the chassis and engine manufacturers. There will also be a requirement for the installation of low rolling resistance tires.

 

As the final rule points out based on the NTEA's input, vocational vehicles consist of a very wide variety of truck and bus types, including delivery, refuse, utility, dump, cement, transit bus, shuttle bus, school bus, emergency vehicle, tow truck, and many more. Vocational vehicles undergo a complex build process, with a final-stage manufacturer completing a vehicle from an incomplete chassis by adding a body and equipment.

 

In these rules, the agencies are regulating chassis and engine manufacturers (and not body builders) for this segment. The agencies have divided this segment into three regulatory subcategories: Light Heavy (Class 2b-5), Medium Heavy (Classes 6 and 7) and Heavy Heavy (Class 8).

 

The agencies point out that after engines, tires are the second largest contributor to energy losses of vocational vehicles. The final program for vocational vehicles is limited to tire technologies (along with the separate engine standards).

 

Heavy-Duty Pickup Trucks and Vans

Heavy-duty vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) between 8,501 and 10,000 lbs. are considered as Class 2b motor vehicles. Class 2b includes medium-duty passenger vehicles (MDPVs) that are already regulated under the light-duty vehicle rule, and the agencies are not adopting additional requirements for MDPVs in this rulemaking. Heavy-duty vehicles with a GVWR between 10,001 and 14,000 lbs. are classified as Class 3 motor vehicles. This category of the new rule addresses Class 2b-3 vehicles not already subject to the light-duty CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) regulations.

 

As the NTEA informed the agencies, a relatively small number of heavy-duty pickups and vans are sold by vehicle manufacturers as incomplete vehicles (chassis). In this instance, NTEA members could have been required to meet the regulatory requirements without having the ability to influence chassis or engine design. As a result, the final rule generally regulates these vehicles as Class 2b-8 vocational vehicles while also allowing chassis manufacturers the option to choose to comply with heavy-duty pickup or van standards.

 

The standards in this category are structured similarly to the fleet averaging standards currently in use for light-duty vehicles and will phase in with increasing stringency in each model year from 2014-2018. Each manufacturer's standard for a model year depends on its sales mix, with higher capacity vehicles (payload and towing) having less stringent target levels, and with an added adjustment for 4-wheel drive vehicles.

 

The EPA standards adopted for 2018 represent an average per-vehicle reduction in GHG (green house gas) emissions of 17 percent for diesel vehicles and 12 percent for gasoline vehicles.

 

The final NHTSA standards represent an average per-vehicle improvement in fuel consumption of 15 percent for diesel vehicles and 10 percent for gasoline vehicles. To satisfy lead-time requirements, NHTSA standards will be voluntary in 2014 and 2015.

 

Class 7 and 8 Combination Tractors

The agencies have adopted differentiated standards for nine subcategories of combination tractors based on three attributes: weight class, cab type and roof height. The standards will phase in and achieve from 9-23 percent reduction in emissions and fuel consumption from affected tractors over their 2010 baselines.

This information is also available on NTEA.com for future reference.