European, Japanese and American Heavy-Duty Vehicle and Engine Manufacturers Call for Global Policy Cooperation to Improve Energy Efficiency and Emissions of Road Freight Transport
04 December 2009
The world’s leading heavy-duty vehicle and engine manufacturing companies are urging the close cooperation between policy makers in Europe, the United States and Japan to develop practical and effective fuel-efficiency measurement metrics, methodologies and regulations which would then be used all around the globe.
More than a dozen chief executives of the global commercial vehicle industry—including Caterpillar, Cummins, Daimler, Hino, Isuzu, Iveco, Mack, MAN, Mitsubishi Fuso, Navistar, Nissan Diesel, Scania, Volvo and Volkswagen—met yesterday in Brussels during ACEA’s annual Transport Policy Event to discuss various opportunities and needs their industry is facing. The discussions focused primarily on the issues of climate change and global energy security, but also covered global air quality-related emissions standards, improved fuel quality and specifications for renewable fuels.
The manufacturers agreed to actively encourage global policy cooperation and to provide their expertise to ensure that regulatory developments enhance the industry’s technological progress within realistic time and economic constraints.
A coordinated global approach for our industry is the most effective way to contribute to achieving global fuel efficiency improvements from the road freight sector. We serve a global market place, and want to avoid conflicting regulations from different regions. That is simply too costly, and impedes technological progress.
The world’s leading commercial engine and vehicle manufacturers are well aware of the importance of fuel efficiency to their customers and support global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Global cooperation in developing specific requirements, as well as metrics and methodologies to evaluate fuel efficiency, provides needed elements to further improve the environmental performance of our vehicles and increases the efficiency of goods transport. That will serve both our customers and the environment.
—Leif Östling, Chief Executive Officer of Scania and Chairman of the ACEA Commercial Vehicle Board, who hosted the meeting in Brussels
It is the seventh year that the chief executives of the global commercial vehicle and engine manufacturers met to address important industry issues on a global level. The meetings bring together representatives of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA), and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA).
Continuing the progress made at previous meetings, the executives discussed how the global harmonization of technical standards affecting heavy-duty engines and vehicles could further improve environmental performance and road freight movement efficiency.
Among the key topics addressed at the meeting were:
Ongoing activities in Japan, US and EU on fuel efficiency of heavy-duty vehicles;
Progress in developing a globally accepted method for the certification of heavy-duty hybrid electric vehicles;
The use of computer simulations to evaluate fuel efficiency of the diverse commercial vehicle configurations and usage; and
The positive outcome of the UNECE (UN Economic Commission for Europe) efforts in establishing a Global Technical Regulation (gtr) for gaseous emissions testing of heavy-duty engines (WHDC—Worldwide Harmonized Heavy-Duty Emissions Certification Procedure). WHDC (gtr 4) specifies test procedures for compression-ignition (CI) engines and positive-ignition (PI) engines fuelled with natural gas (NG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) with regard to the emission of pollutants.
As a result of the meeting, the chief executives agreed to initiate through OICA (International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers) a proposal to UNECE to develop a certification procedure of heavy-duty hybrid electric vehicles based upon the HILS (Hardware-In-the-Loop Simulator) procedure used in Japan and to ask UNECE to address this issue with urgency.
Furthermore, and in relation to exhaust emission requirements, the manufacturers agreed to recommend the introduction of legislative requirements regarding market fuels, in order to ensure that the appropriate, high-quality fossil and renewable fuels are globally available for today’s vehicle technologies. The commercial vehicle industry will work with the oil industry to underline the importance of this issue and ensure a constructive dialogue.
Considering the positive outcome of the UNECE process on establishing a harmonized engine certification procedure for emissions related to air quality, the chief executives encourages UNECE to take advantage of this momentum and initiate activities with the objective to develop metrics and methods to measure fuel efficiency of heavy-duty vehicles and engines and for evaluating fuel efficiency improvements of components related to air and rolling resistance.
Daniel Ustian, Chairman, President, and CEO of Navistar, extended an invitation to the eighth Global Commercial Vehicle Industry Meeting in the USA in 2010.
Resources
It has been shown that hydraulic hybrids can save fuel. Bosch should demonstrate a truck version of the Artemis technology. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 04 December 2009 at 07:02 AM
Business likes certainty and unknown future regulations present uncertainty. Cummins stock has fallen recently because of decreased demand for trucks and the engines that go in them.
Going forward, truck and engine makers would like to see what Cap and Trade, environmental and fuel economy measures means to them. The sooner that becomes clear, the more accurate the planning can be.
Posted by: SJC | 04 December 2009 at 08:38 AM
This is long overdue. Those people should have reacted years ago. A 50% increase in heavy vehicle efficiency is possible if the majority of the known technologies were applied.
Better use of electrified railroads could move cargo trailers at 3 to 4 times the efficiency of the current heavy trucks.
Electrified tractors could move the trailers at each end. The A to Z efficiency gain + diesel fuel consumption and GHG reductions would make that approach a win-win project.
The USA project could start with one North-South line + one East-West line. More electrified lines could be added latter.
Current diesel-electric locomotives could easily be modified to run on electricity only.
All good economic recovery projects for future growth in US economy.
Posted by: HarveyD | 04 December 2009 at 10:38 AM
Three million big rigs going 100,000 miles per year at 4 mpg uses a LOT of fuel. If we can get the mileage up and/or drive less miles, we are ahead of the game. Combine that with better efficiency in the trucks between pickups and big rigs and we are on our way to less imported oil.
Posted by: SJC | 06 December 2009 at 01:02 PM