Progress has been made in recent years to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fuel consumption by heavy duty and medium duty vehicles on U.S. roadways.
These regulations have had a positive effect on the environment, but the changes also mean manufacturers, fleet managers and drivers need to adjust the way they do business today, tomorrow and beyond.
Additional rulemaking, designed to continue this environmentally-friendly progress, is coming. New standards were expected earlier this year, but their release has been delayed.
While fleet managers have to wait and see how the new standards will impact their businesses, they can anticipate some possible effects.
ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS
In a joint effort to reduce the amount of GHG emissions and fuel consumption, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency of the U.S. federal government tasked with protecting health and the environment (www.epa.gov), teamed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation responsible for creating and enforcing vehicle safety standards (www.nhtsa.gov), to create a first-of-its-kind program that regulates medium duty and heavy duty vehicle emission standards.
Between 1880 and 2012, the global average temperature is reported to have increased by more than 1.5 degrees F. According to the EPA, average temperatures have risen more quickly since the late 1970s (0.31 to 0.48 degrees F per decade). Seven of the top 10 warmest years on record for the contiguous 48 states have occurred since 1998, and 2012 was the warmest year on record.
Carbon emissions from burning coal, oil, gas and producing cement account for roughly 80 percent of the total carbon from human activities in recent decades, says Dennis Johnson with EPA’s transportation and climate division. He says land-use changes, such as cutting down forests, account for the other 20 percent.
Worldwide, medium duty and heavy duty energy demands are expected to grow by 65 percent over the next 30 years, and heavy duty vehicles are projected to be the largest transportation sub-sector use of energy, says the EPA. “It is projected to grow to 40 percent of all transportation energy,” Johnson says.
PHASE I
Phase I of the GHG emissions program, the first-ever set of regulations for medium and heavy duty vehicles, included adopting standards to reduce fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and operating costs for semi tractors, full-size pickup trucks, work vans, vocational vehicles and heavy duty engines.
Phase I was published in 2011 and took effect on vehicles for the 2014 to 2018 model years. Some manufacturers chose to be proactive and began certifying before the regulations went into place for 2014.
When the Phase I standards were released in 2011, the primary GHGs of concern included carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and hydrofluorocabons (HFC), according to the EPA. The agency estimated that transportation accounted for roughly 77 percent of the country’s domestic oil use; and heavy duty vehicles made up 17 percent of all transportation oil use.
Matthew Spears, center director for heavy duty diesel programs for the U.S. EPA says there are many positive results because of the Phase I standards.
“This rule has significant impacts on the rate of fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and, as you know, saving fuel also saves money,” he says. “So the operating costs of thousands of businesses were impacted.”
Brian Mormino, the executive director for worldwide environmental strategy and compliance at Cummins – a company that designs, manufactures, distributes and services diesel and natural gas engines and related technologies (www.cummins.com) – also voices support for the Phase I rulemaking.
“I am amazed now to be standing here in 2015 and looking back at the progress that we’ve made,” he says.
INFORMATION GATHERING
Spears explains that rule-makers attempted to gather as much information as possible from members of the trucking industry in order to make a comprehensive set of standards.
“One of the hallmarks of this particular rulemaking, as opposed to many of the other ones the EPA has developed for the transportation sector, is we really tried our best to conduct a significant amount of stakeholder outreach,” he says.
“I’m really happy that we’ve been able to meet with so many folks,” he continues. “I think it’s really helped us learn as much as we can about the transportation sector.”
The EPA and NHTSA’s GHG emissions and fuel consumption program was launched in response to a memorandum issued by President Barack Obama in May of 2010 regarding fuel-efficiency standards.
In Phase I rulemaking, Spears says there was a focus on setting standards that could be considered “off-the-shelf technologies,” meaning “technologies that are on many vehicles today, but maybe could be included on more vehicles.”
Mormino says the biggest area of improvement during Phase I involved engines and chassis, which he believes was a logical point to start when dealing with the work truck segment.
“The regulation recognizes that you have all this diversity and complexity that exists, and if you address the engine, you’re getting efficiency improvements across all that wide range of vehicles,” he explains. “So it’s a very efficient way to regulate.”
TWO KEY FACTORS
Cummins’ Mormino stressed two important factors – business consistency and regulatory integrity – in regard to Phase I GHG emissions and fuel consumption standards. “Business consistency means that the regulation doesn’t get in the way of the business that we have or the work that we need to do.
“Regulatory integrity is also a very valuable point,” he continues. “That means, basically, that the reductions we say are going to occur – or that the EPA says are going to occur – actually happen in practice.”
Putting those reductions in practice, he explains, is critical for everyone involved because it means “you’re actually saving fuel and you’re saving money. The government cares about it because it’s telling the public and everybody these are the reductions we’re going to get.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO PHASE II
The EPA’s Spears forecasted what may be included in the proposed Phase II regulations from the EPA and NHTSA that were anticipated to be published in March of this year but are now expected to be made public in June. These regulations will address vehicles beyond the 2018 model year, but will likely not take effect until the 2020 model year.
According to Spears, heavy duty Phase II standards may include looking beyond off-the-shelf technologies, the potential inclusion of trailers, additional and new technologies beyond Phase I, as well as refined test procedures.
- Technology Research
The EPA’s Spears says that his organization and the NHTSA are researching engine technologies, which are possible considerations for the Phase II implementation. Engine downsizing, engine downspeeding, engine friction reduction and natural gas fuel systems are among many of the technologies being explored to further reduce GHG emissions and fuel consumption.
Additionally, research is being done on:
- Dual-clutch transmissions.
- Fan power demand reduction.
- Fuel fired heaters.
- Hybrid technologies.
- Improved aerodynamics.
- Improved transmissions.
- Low-rolling-resistance tires.
- Manual transmissions.
- Shorepower.
- Wide base tires.
- Tractor axles – 6x2 or clutched 6x4.
- Speed limiters.
- Weight reduction.
“The fastest growing transportation sub-sector is heavy duty,” says Spears. “So producing GHGs and fuel consumption at this point in time is setting the stage for these longer-term standards.”
- Trailers
It is anticipated that Phase II also will include rules on trailers, which were not covered by Phase I.
As the trailer industry remains diverse in design and application, it may be difficult to apply an all-encompassing regulation to on-road trailers. The EPA suggests that any Phase II proposal in regards to trailers would apply to new models.
Trailers currently in operation with fleets and owner-operators would not be held to the implemented Phase II regulations, nor would there be a requirement to retrofit trailers.
The EPA and NHTSA are focusing on trailer technologies which are in use today. The EPA’s Johnson says the agencies do not set standards that specify the use of any given product by the trailer OEMs, as they recognize choice is important.
- Other Components
Other vehicle and trailer technologies being researched by the two agencies include:
- A/C reduced reheat.
- Air compressor improvements.
- Automated manual transmission.
- Automatic engine shutdown.
- Automatic tire pressure control.
- Battery auxiliary power units.
- Cab insulation to reduce A/C use.
- Chassis friction reduction and improved lubrication.
- Diesel auxiliary power units.
- Driver coaching features.
- Driver management features.
- Additional Considerations
Phase II may offer standards on:
- Updates to the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Model (GEM) – developed by EPA and NTHSA as a means for determining compliance with the GHG emissions and fuel consumption vehicle standards.
- Updated technology.
- Economic and environmental assessments.
- Updated flexibilities.
- Changes to hybrid test procedures to reduce the test burden of certification.
LONG TERM
Although the new standards have not been published, Cummins’ Mormino is optimistic about the direction the project is headed. He notes that the first-ever GHG and fuel consumptions rules for commercial vehicles were passed on Jan. 1, 2014, yet vehicle sales were not negatively affected by the new measures.
“We’ve got a lot of infrastructure that we can build on moving forward, and we keep doing that,” he says. Although vehicle and engine companies cannot create specific long-term plans until the Phase II regulation are released, they are, on whole, already planning future products, Cummins’ Mormino says. The EPA’s Spears explained that his organization and NHTSA have been focused on technical work while performing research at the EPA’s laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich. The agencies are researching test procedures as well.
“The technical work is underway and, in many cases, has already been wrapped up,” says Spears.
