In an effort to address climate change, President Obama announced on Tuesday that the federal government would further tighten emission and fuel-efficiency standards for medium and heavy-duty trucks.
The new mandate will encompass vehicles ranging from large pick-up trucks and school buses to tractor-trailers. The legislation will affect models subsequent to 2018 and is expected to hit new truck buyers in the wallet – hard.
This marks the second time in the last five years that the Obama administration has targeted the trucking industry.
A previous mandate was passed in 2011 and was projected to increase the cost of tractor-trailers by $6,220 on 2014-2018 models. Officials at the time alleged that the mandate would cost the industry $8 billion but would save truck users about $50 billion over the lifetimes of the vehicles.
The president is once again issuing an executive order on the matter even though the alleged $50 billion in savings from the 2011 mandate have yet to materialize.
The new efficiency standards will require a complete overhaul of vital trucking components in medium to heavy-duty trucks in order to lower emissions.
Industry officials have mixed feelings about the new proposal.
On an optimistic note, Bill Graves, president and chief executive of the American Trucking Associations, said that the “new rules will make up for the higher cost of equipment within two or three years.”
However, his colleague Phil Byrd, chairman of the ATA, is more skeptical and points to the fact that after the first round of efficiency improvements, “many fleets experienced a loss in productivity with the new equipment that was not reliable.”
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) warns that the new standards would make the cost of new trucks skyrocket and force smaller carriers and owner-operators to hold onto their older vehicles, essentially putting a barrier on their business expansion and income growth.
Whether the proposals will save the trucking industry money in the long run or not, only time will tell. For now though, one thing is certain, expect to shell out bigger bucks for your equipment.
