New truck fuel standards

The federal government is proposing new greenhouse gas (GHG)/fuel economy standards for commercial trucks and buses to take effect in 2014 and 2018, according to American City & County’s sister publication Fleet Owner. The new standards are part of the Obama administration’s effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles to address climate change concerns.

Crafted jointly by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the new GHG/fuel economy proposals are “tiered” to cover three distinct vehicle categories, according to those agencies: heavy trucks and tractor-trailers, heavy-duty pickups and vans, and vocational vehicles. The EPA believes the new rules would reduce GHG emissions by nearly 250 million metric tons, cut carbon monoxide emissions by 11,000 million metric tons, eliminate 33,000 million metric tons of oxides of nitrogen, and remove 12,000 million metric tons of particulate matter.

Read the entire story from Fleet Owner, our sister publication. Also, view readers’ reactions.