The APE has has finalized a long-awaited update to its truck emissions rulesthe first update to U.S. truck air quality standards since 2001, though environmental groups say the EPA could do better.
The new ruler starts from model year 2027 and is up to 80% stronger than the current standard. It will nearly halve smog-causing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from trucks by 2045.
NOx is one of the main components of smog and is emitted by the combustion of gasoline and diesel. Diesel engines tend to produce significantly more NOx than petrol engines, so heavy-duty diesels have significant impacts on NOx. About 16-18% of NOx emissions come from heavy-duty vehicles (although in some states it is higher, such as in California at 32% due to stricter light-truck emissions rules), although they represent a smaller percentage of total road traffic.
Thus, regulating the relatively small number of trucks can have an outsized influence on overall NOx emissions.
The EPA says this new regulation will result in several benefits by 2045:
- Up to 2,900 fewer premature deaths
- 6,700 fewer hospital admissions and emergency room visits
- 18,000 fewer cases of childhood asthma
- 3.1 million fewer cases of asthma and allergic rhinitis symptoms
- 78,000 fewer working days lost
- 1.1 million fewer school days are wasted for children
- $29 billion in annual net profits
The regulations will also “increase the useful life of governed vehicles by 1.5 to 2.5 times and provide emissions warranties 2.8 to 4.5 times longer,” according to the EPA.
But not everyone is happy with the new rule. While a big step forward for diesel truck emissions regulations, environmental groups hoped the rule would focus more on zero-emissions trucks, rather than just creating cleaner versions of the dirty diesels.
The Natural Resources Defense Council hailed the EPA for finally updating these rules after 20 years of inaction, but said “these standards fall short and the agency missed a critical opportunity to reduce soot.” and smog and to accelerate the transition to the cleanest vehicles” – that is, fully electric trucks. And the American Lung Association has praised the rule, eagerly awaiting EPA plans to release more cleaner truck rules starting next year.
On the other side, the Diesel Technology Forum, an industry group in favor of the expansion of diesel trucking, seemed quite happy with the new rule. They say this will help accelerate the rotation of older diesel trucks to newer, more efficient models – and believe electric trucks aren’t the ideal solution for trucking.
Fortunately, that’s not the end, as far as the EPA is concerned. The EPA plans to issue new rules on greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty vehicles beginning in the spring of 2023, and those rules will also take effect in 2027. Today’s rule change focused on NOx emissions, but CO2 is another important emission to regulate in order to combat climate change.
Transportation is the largest source of emissions in the United States. Medium and heavy trucks combined are responsible for 26% of US transportation CO2 emissions. Light-duty vehicles are responsible for more – 57%, the majority of transport emissions – but they far outnumber trucks.
The world is currently well above pre-industrial CO2 levels. Any carbon-positive technology, such as diesel, can only raise CO2 levels when they need to come down. The first step towards returning to ~350ppm CO2 from our current measurement of 416ppm (and rising) is to transition to carbon-free technology in all sectors, especially the most polluting ones like transport. Putting more new diesel engines on the road simply guarantees that they will continue to pollute for decades into the future, which will have to be replaced by zero-emission trucks anyway.
The EPA had planned to issue truck CO2 rules this year, but due to new incentives for zero-emission vehicles in the Inflation Reduction Act, they postponed their decision until next spring. With up to $40,000 available for zero-emission commercial vehicles and several new electric trucks recently hitting the market, the EPA seems confident it can issue tougher CO2 rules than expected.
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