Washington,DC,USA -The Financial Times, by Bernard Simon (Toronto/Canada) -October 25, 2010:
-- The US administration has proposed its first fuel-efficiency standards for commercial trucks, buses and other heavy vehicles... Ray LaHood, transport secretary, said the measures “will reduce our reliance on oil, strengthen our energy security and mitigate climate change”... He estimates the measures would save 500m barrels of oil over the lives of vehicles built during the first five years of the programme, starting in 2014. Off-road vehicles would be exempt... Only 4 per cent of vehicles would be covered by the standards, but they consume 20 per cent of the fuel. The standards fall into three categories. Combination tractors would have to cut carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption by up to 20 per cent by 2018. A 10-15 per cent cut would be demanded for heavy-duty pickups and vans, while vehicles such as fire engines would have to cut emissions and fuel use by up to 10 per cent... The administration also sees opportunities for domestic suppliers of a range of fuel-efficiency technology, including limiting vehicles’ idling time... The new standards are likely to push up vehicle costs but a senior EPA official said that they “will pay back very quickly with small investments”...
* USA - Trucks of the future will be more efficient, but costlier
Washington,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine, by David Tanner -October 25, 2010: -- By 2018, new long-haul trucks would achieve 20 percent better fuel mileage than trucks manufactured in 2014, if a notice of proposed rulemaking aimed at reducing fuel consumption and harmful emissions makes it through the regulatory process... Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Lisa Jackson, said the proposed new standards can be achieved using technologies that exist today such as engine refinements, aerodynamics and idle reduction... OOIDA leadership is reviewing the 673-page proposal, saying that while the intentions for efficiency are good, there are details that long-haulers may have a tough time swallowing, including a call for mandatory speed limiters. Truckers are also worried about ever-increasing costs of compliant vehicles... The proposal calls for improvements in three categories of trucks at the manufacturing level. These include combination tractors; heavy duty pickups and vans; and vocational vehicles... Combination tractors would have to achieve 20 percent better fuel economy and 20 percent reduced emissions by 2018. Pickups and vans must improve efficiency by 15 percent while vocational vehicles must improve fuel economy by 10 percent... A senior NHTSA official told Land Line Magazine that truckers purchasing compliant equipment will more than recoup their investment over the life of the vehicle... “They’re going to see paybacks very quickly with small investments,” he said. “We see a $74,000 payback on tractor trailers with an investment of about $5,900”... (Photo from newscientis: The Daimler Innovation Truck is built on an aluminium chassis. Rear-wheel fairings smooth the airflow around the wheels, and under-body panels do the same job under the chassis. A roof deflector directs air over the trailer, and an air splitter has been incorporated into the front bumper to pass air around the truck. Mirrors have been replaced with side-view cameras to further reduce drag)Labels: fuel efficiency
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