Response: As one source said, “it’s a trucking company’s business to make money, not clean up planet Earth,” and so truck makers can’t afford to let regulators get too enthusiastic in their goal setting. Trucking has made huge strides in emissions control, but those improvements have prevented truck makers from focusing R&D efforts on fuel efficiency.
Variable geometry turbos, EGR, SCR – none of that has come cheap, nor paid for itself quite yet. The feds will have to start doing the math, and the trucking industry will have to double-check it.
Next Objection: The president referred to the goal of doubling light-vehicle fuel economy standards in the same speech that he announced the next truck effort. This is a misleading apples-to-oranges assessment, and if he thinks trucks can also be built substantially smaller and lighter and still do the same work, he needs to get out of the armored limo once and awhile. (Click here for the rebuttal >>)
