September 23, 2015 Vol. 12 No. 18

Are we in for a debacle like those we suffered through the previous decade when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made unrealistic technology demands on truck and engine makers? The EPA blithely made their demands without a clue, it always seemed to me, about the cost implications for both manufacturers and truck operators. Yes, they produced estimates with every new set of emissions rules, but they were about as close to accurate as I am to the moon.

I have an example of that to tell you about, anecdotal but common as hell in my long experience of listening to truck operators tell me their tales of woe. I’ll get to that in a minute. But here’s a teaser: a tractor bought in 2008 by an owner-operator friend of mine cost a total of $650,000 to buy, operate, and maintain over the first six years of its life. Really.

Right now we have the proposed second phase of U.S. truck greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency standards in front of us, which Canada will no doubt follow to the letter. Never mind that we need our own rules here, for it seems unlikely that we’ll get them.

The EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are jointly producing the new mandate.

Their Phase 2 rulemaking proposal is a complex one, and perhaps more complex than any of us thought. Or at least more difficult, if not impossible, for manufacturers to deal with.

I’ve always believed that Phase 2 would, overall, be of benefit to truck owners because it promises decent fuel-economy improvements. And because I was confident that for the next few years existing technologies could still meet the new demands. I’ve had my concerns, but they’ve mostly had to do with the money this will cost truck buyers, EPA estimates being what they are.

Until now, voices on the truck and engine side have been quiet and pretty calming. But no longer.

AT FTR’S TRANSPORTATION CONFERENCE  in Indianapolis last week, Amy Kopin of Daimler Trucks North America told attendees that the standards are likely to be much more difficult to meet than originally believed.

Sad to say, I wasn’t there to hear this, but my friend and colleague Jim Park was. He wrote about Kopin’s surprising comments on both HDT’s truckinginfo.com and our own todaystrucking.com and I’m simply going to repeat most of his story in slightly edited form here because I believe it’s important. Thanks, James.

For those unaware of the relationship, HDT and Today’s Trucking magazines are ‘cousins’ — there’s no joint ownership but we work together editorially and Jim toils away for both of us. Here’s what he had to say…