The Obama administration's newly proposed rules to promote fuel efficiency in certain vehicles are the first of its kind. These motions are geared to motivate the design of future school buses, garbage trucks, delivery vans and heavy-duty pickup trucks to do better at the gas pump.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department are moving forward with Obama's proposal, starting with vehicles sold in the 2014 model year and extending into 2018.
The plan to improve efficiency is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption from longhaul trucks by 20 percent, according to individuals familiar with the proposal. They made the statement anonymous because they did not want to speak publicly before Monday's official announcement.
In its essence, the plan seeks a 10 to 20 percent reduction in fuel consumption and emissions based on the vehicle's size. For example, tractor-trailers often live up to 150,000 miles a year, making them prime for enhanced fuel efficiency.
The regulations under the new plan will involve large tractor-trailers, powerful pick-up trucks such as "heavy-duty" models of the Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado, and "vocational trucks" such as school buses and garbage trucks.
In an effort to reduce dependence on oil and cut greenhouse gas emissions tied to global warming, the White House has urged to increase the standards for fuel economy across the nation's fleets.
For many auto transport companies, the new plan will have significant impact on their operations. Such companies with large vehicle transport fleets may be required to invest in new capital to meet the standards of the plan's new rules.
According the newly proposed standards, fleets of new cars, pickup trucks and SUVs will be required to reach 35.5 mpg by 2016. The government is creating further plans for future models that could heighten the standards to 62 mpg by 2025.
Many companies that rely on commercial fleets to drive there business operations foresee a challenging future with the new plan. An Ohio shipping company is going as far as consulting with a Dayton transportation lawyer to look at all legal alternatives to swapping out their entire fleet.
"Investing in an entirely new fleet of trucks would really set us back." The CEO of the Ohio shipping company stated. "We are hoping our transportation lawyer will dissolve some kind of solution."
Heavy-duty pickups are much less fuel-efficient than conventional autos with tractor-trailers currently getting 6 mpg to 7 mpg, and heavy-duty trucks managing 10 to 11 mpg. These vehicle categories are responsible for about 20 percent of the transportation fuel in the U.S.
The director of the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality stated last week that the proposal would be a "win-win situation for the country, the economy, climate change and energy security."
In May President Obama, along with several truck manufacturers, said the government would release the first-ever proposed standards for greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency for large trucks this year. Using existing technologies, he estimated then that the fuel efficiency of tractor-trailers could be see an improvement of 25 percent.
"This is going to bring down the costs of transporting - for transporting goods, serving businesses and consumers alike," the president claimed on May 21, teamed up with executives with Daimler Trucks, Volvo, Cummins and Navistar, as well as trucking industry officials.
Such fuel efficiency enhancements will come through a combination of better engines, better tires, and improved aerodynamics, especially for large commercial fleets in the auto transport industry.
Several environmental agencies have pointed to a report by the National Academy of Sciences that said the vehicles under the plan could make vast improvements during the decade utilizing existing technologies. The report discovered that implementing advanced diesel engines in tractor-trailers could drop fuel consumption by up to 20 percent by 2020.
