Mack Trucks is offering its long-haul highway customers Mack Pinnacle tractors certified by the US EPA SmartWay program. The Certified SmartWay designation means these tractors meet EPA’s environmental and fuel efficiency standards for excellence.

The SmartWay program requires trucks to have a detailed set of components shown to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Reduced fuel consumption also means less emissions of greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming.

EPA’s SmartWay criteria call for specific aerodynamically-enhanced components to reduce drag while the truck is moving, low rolling resistance tires, engines certified to the very stringent US’07 standards for reduced NOx and particulate emissions, as well as technologies to encourage drivers to avoid unnecessary idling.

Mack’s new MP series of engines, the 11-litre MP7 and 13-litre MP8, are a completely new family of engines designed to meet the US’07 emissions standards. They are also the most fuel efficient engines Mack has ever produced, according to Mack officials.

Other Mack SmartWay components include:

* a sleeper cab with full roof fairings and cab side extenders designed to significantly reduce aerodynamic drag (these features can result in as much as a 15% improvement in fuel economy by moving air efficiently between the back of the cab and the front of the trailer);

* aerodynamically designed mirrors for further air drag reduction;

* aerodynamically designed front bumper to move air smoothly around and under the front of the truck;

* fuel tank fairings, also called chassis skirts (working with the bumper, these fairings can improve fuel economy by up to another 2%);

* low rolling resistance tires, which can result in yet another 1% improvement in fuel economy;

* and the Idle Free “key-off” HVAC system is designed to provide driver comfort and electrical power for amenities without idling the truck’s engine, using shore power, a connection to reefer units or a special bank of batteries.