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Environmental Groups Call for 35% Improvement in Tractor-Trailer Fuel Efficiency

A coalition of nearly 20 environmental and science organizations sent a letter last week calling on President Obama to establish new vehicle pollution and fuel economy standards, including cutting fuel consumption from long-haul tractors pulling van trailers by 35 percent by model year 2017.

The standards, the letter said, should require all other medium- and heavy-duty trucks to increase fuel efficiency to the maximum technically-feasible, cost-effective level. These standards should require fuel-efficiency improvements from the entire truck, including trailers.

The government is already working on a proposal to cut fuel efficiency in heavy trucks.

In May, President Obama signed a policy calling on two federal agencies to develop national standards for fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions for medium and heavy trucks. During a White House Rose Garden signing ceremony, the president said, "We estimate that we can increase fuel economy by as much as 25 percent in tractor-trailers using technologies that already exist."

Under the agreement, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will work together to produce rules covering emissions and fuel standards, respectively, that will start to take effect in the 2014 model year and will be fully implemented by 2018. Truck and engine manufacturers have been working with EPA for a year and a half to craft a workable plan.

The coalition included the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and others. The groups also called on the Obama administration to Increase average new car and light truck mileage to at least 60 mpg by 2025.

Read the entire letter here.

For more on what the government is currently working on, see "Industry Applauds Fuel Economy Policy," Truckinginfo.com, 5/26/2010.

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