Manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks and buses will be required to produce vehicles that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 60 percent by model year 2032 under a new EPA regulation. The agency said a variety of technologies can be used by truck makers to meet the tailpipe emissions target, from cleaner-burning internal combustion engines to hybrids, electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cells.
“In finalizing these emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and buses, EPA is significantly cutting pollution from the hardest working vehicles on the road,” said EPA administrator Michael Regan. The heavy-truck regulation, released on Friday, came nine days after EPA reduced the allowed level of tailpipe emissions for new cars and pickup trucks.
Both regulations are expected to encourage use of electric vehicles.
The EPA said the new heavy vehicle rule would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1 billion tons and reduce the pollution exposure of 72 million people who live near truck freight routes.
“EPA’s rule flatly dismisses the benefits of biodiesel and renewable diesel as the lowest-cost and most widely available options to kick-start decarbonization of the heavy-duty vehicle sector,” said Kurt Kovarik, vice president of Clean Fuels Alliance America. Clean Fuels is a trade group for the biomass-based diesel and sustainable aviation fuel sector.
The National Corn Growers Association said a large-scale shift to electric cars and pickup trucks would sharply reduce the market price of corn. More than 35 percent of the U.S. corn crop is used in making ethanol, which is mixed into gasoline. Federal rules assure ethanol a share of the fuel market.
Information about the heavy vehicle rule, including its text, was available here.
An EPA fact sheet on the heavy-truck rules was available here.