July 1, 2015 Vol. 12 No. 13

Well, how could I avoid discussing the news that came out of Washington on June 19?

Phase 2 of U.S. fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission regulations for medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses is finally upon us, or nearly so. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that we’ve been waiting for has finally been published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It was originally due in March.

There can’t be many of you who haven’t read quite a few things about it so I won’t go into voluminous detail here. It’s so long and complex anyway that I wouldn’t have the room, so I’ll have to leave you on your own there. Suffice to say for the moment that the proposal contains no real surprises but a couple of questions were finally answered.

The proposal confirmed that trailers will indeed be part of the regulatory mix for the first time. More controversially, it also confirmed that separate standards for engines and vehicles will continue, which pleases that idea’s main proponent, engine maker Cummins. Truck makers and rival engine builders Daimler and Volvo had pressed for a switch to a single efficiency standard based on the whole, integrated truck, engine included.

It seems very likely that Canadian legislators will simply follow suit, as they’ve done in the past, despite mild efforts by this country’s trucking industry to press for standards that better fit our unique, and heavier, vehicles.

THE PROPOSED PHASE 2 REGIME calls for improved fuel economy for medium- and heavy-duty trucks by as much as 24% over 2014-18 levels by 2027, starting in model-year 2021. The standards would cover tractors, vocational trucks, large pickup trucks and vans, and all buses.