Filed under: MPG, Legislation and Policy, USA



In his State Of The Union speech last week, President Obama made mention of higher fuel economy standards for big trucks. We all know (or should, at least), that picking up the low-mpg stragglers in our vehicle fleet is where we can make big efficiency gains, but what would greener trucks mean for the average American - besides some cleaner air, hopefully?

We can easily imagine how lower refueling costs can reduce shipping costs, but the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) has done the math. The CFA found that an aggressive CAFE-style regulations for semi trucks - with aggressive here meaning cutting fuel use by "nearly 50 percent" - could end up saving $29.5 Billion, which is the equivalent of $250 per US household. The reason, according to Mark Cooper, the Director of Research for the CFA and the author of Paying the Freight: The Consumer Benefits of Increasing the Fuel Economy of Medium and Heavy-Duty Trucks (PDF), is that Americans currently pay an average of $1,100 per household towards medium and heavy duty truck fuel costs (based on 2010 data) and that any lowering in this cost will be passed through to consumers "because the transportation sector is very competitive."

Now, the President did not say anything about slicing big rig fuel use in half - the White House fact sheet simply says, "The President will propose new incentives for medium- and heavy-duty trucks that run on alternative fuels like natural gas and the infrastructure needed to deploy them, and the Administration will set new fuel efficiency standards for heavy duty vehicles." - so don't go spending that $250 quite yet.Continue reading Obama's call for greener trucks could save every household $250 annually

Obama's call for greener trucks could save every household $250 annually originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 05 Feb 2014 17:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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