Regulatory Announcement

EPA and NHTSA Propose First-Ever 

Program to Reduce Greenhouse Gas 

Emissions and Improve Fuel Efficiency 

of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles: 

Regulatory Announcement 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the 

Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration (NHTSA) are announcing a first-ever program to 

reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improve fuel efficiency 

of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, such as the largest pickup trucks 

and vans, semi trucks, and all types and sizes of work trucks and buses 

in between. These vehicles make up the transportation segment’s 

second largest contributor to oil consumption and GHG emissions. 

The proposed rules would create a strong and comprehensive heavyduty national program (the “HD National Program”), designed to 

address the urgent and closely intertwined challenges of dependence 

on oil, energy security, and global climate change. At the same time, 

the proposed program would enhance American competitiveness and 

job creation, benefit consumers and businesses by reducing costs for 

transporting goods, and spur growth in the clean energy sector. 

The agencies estimate that the combined proposed standards have 

the potential to reduce GHG emissions by nearly 250 million metric 

tons and save approximately 500 million barrels of oil over the life of 

vehicles sold during 2014 to 2018, while providing an estimated $35 

billion in net benefits to truckers, or $41 billion in net benefits when 

societal benefits are included. The proposed HD National Program is 

Office of Transportation and Air Quality 

EPA-420-F-10-901 

October 2010 
Regulatory Announcement 

 

 

 

 

 

a key component of the agencies’ response to a Presidential Memorandum 

issued last May, and has been developed with support from industry, the State 

of California, and environmental stakeholders.1 

Need to Reduce Fuel Consumption and Greenhouse Gases fromVehicles 

Our country has two intertwined and critically important needs - to reduce oil consumption and 

to address global climate change. NHTSA and EPA are proposing the HD National Program 

to meet these needs by reducing fuel use and GHG emissions from on-highway transportation 

sources. The effect of these actions will be to improve energy security, increase fuel savings, 

reduce GHG emissions, and provide regulatory certainty for manufacturers. 

Setting fuel consumption standards for the heavy-duty sector will improve our energy security by 

reducing our dependence on foreign oil, which has been a national objective since the first oil 

price shocks in the 1970s. Net petroleum imports now account for approximately 60 percent of 

U.S. petroleum consumption. Transportation accounts for about 72 percent of our domestic oil 

use, and heavy-duty vehicles account for about 17 percent of transportation oil use.2 

Transportation sources emitted 29 percent of all U.S. GHG emissions in 2007 and have been 

the fastest-growing source of U.S. GHG emissions since 1990.3 The primary GHGs of concern 

from transportation sources are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), 

and hydrofluorocarbons (HFC). The heavy-duty sector addressed in this joint proposal accounted 

for nearly six percent of all U.S. GHG emissions and 20 percent of transportation GHG emissions 

in 2007. Within the transportation sector, heavy-duty vehicles are the fastest-growing contributor 

to GHG emissions. 

Benefits and Costs of the Proposed HD National Program 

The agencies’ analysis indicates that the combined proposed standards have the potential to 

reduce GHG emissions by nearly 250 million metric tons and save approximately 500 million 

barrels of oil over the life of vehicles sold during 2014 to 2018. In total, these combined standards would reduce CO2 emissions from the U.S. heavy-duty fleet by approximately 72 million 

metric tons of CO2-equivalent by 2030, below the level that would occur in the absence of the 

HD National Program. 

Overall, EPA and NHTSA estimate that the HD National Program would cost the affected 

industry approximately $7.7 billion, and generate total societal benefits of $49 billion, providing 

1 Improving Energy Security, American Competitiveness and Job Creation, and Environmental Protection 

Through a Transformation of Our Nation’s Fleet of Cars And Trucks” 75 FR 29399, May 26, 2010, 

www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-memorandum-regarding-fuel-efficiency-standards 

2 In 2009 Source: EIA Annual Energy Outlook 2010 released May 11, 2010 

3 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2009. Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 

1990-2007. EPA 430-R-09-004. Available at: 

http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads09/GHG2007entire_report-508.pdf 

2 
Regulatory Announcement 

$41 billion in net benefits as a result of the standards over the lifetimes of model year 2014­

2018 vehicles, discounted at three percent.4

 Using technologies commercially available today, 

the majority of vehicles would see a payback period of one to two years, while others, especially 

those with with lower annual miles, would experience payback periods of four to five years. For 

example, an operator of a semi truck could pay for the technology upgrades in under a year, and 

have net savings up to $74,000 over the truck’s useful life. 

There are also many potential benefits of the proposed program which the agencies have not yet 

quantified, including benefits from reductions in emissions of non-GHG pollutants. The benefits 

that are currently calculated into dollar amounts include benefits from GHG reductions, energy 

security, and other externalities such as reduced time spent refueling. 

Scope of Standards for Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles 

The agencies are each proposing complementary standards under their respective authorities 

covering model years 2014-2018, which together would form a comprehensive HD National 

Program. EPA and NHTSA are proposing emission standards for CO2 and fuel consumption 

standards, respectively, tailored to each of three main regulatory categories: (1) combination 

tractors;5

 (2) heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans; and (3) vocational vehicles. Each of these is 

described further below. EPA is additionally proposing standards for air conditioning related 

emissions of HFC from pickups, vans and tractors; as well as N2O and CH4 standards applicable 

to all heavy-duty engines, pickups and vans. 

For purposes of this proposal, the heavy-duty fleet incorporates all on-road vehicles rated at a 

gross vehicle weight at or above 8,500 pounds, and the engines that power them, except those 

covered by the current GHG emissions and Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for 

model years 2012-2016.6

 Heavy-duty vehicles include both work trucks and commercial medium 

and heavy-duty on-highway vehicles as defined by the Energy Independence and Security Act 

(EISA). Heavy-duty engines affected by the proposed standards would generally be those that 

are installed in commercial medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses. The agencies’ scopes 

are the same except that EPA is proposing to include recreational on-highway vehicles (RV’s, 

or motor homes) within its rulemaking, while NHTSA is not including these vehicles, due to 

EISA’s requirement that standards be set for “commercial” medium- and heavy-duty on-highway 

vehicles and work trucks. 

4 The monetized benefits presented are a summed value of many years worth of emissions reductions and fuel 

savings, discounting the value that future reductions have to society vs reductions in the present day. These 

benefit estimates use the Annual Energy Outlook 2010 reference case fuel prices, and apply a Social Cost 

of Carbon (SCC) value of $22 per ton CO2 reduced. Other SCC values are presented and discussed in the 

proposal. 

5 Commonly known as semi trucks. The agencies are not proposing standards for trailers, thus this regulatory 

category denotes the main power unit portion of a tractor-trailer combined vehicle. 

6 The final 2012-2016 standards cover some vehicles above 8,500 lbs. For example, this proposal excludes 

sport-utility vehicles, vans with less than a 13-person capacity, and 1⁄2-ton pickups. 

3 
Regulatory Announcement 

 

Trailers are not covered under this proposal, due to the first-ever nature of this proposal and the 

agencies’ limited experience working in a compliance context with the trailer manufacturing 

industry. However, because trailers do impact the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions from 

combination tractors, and because of the opportunities for reductions, we are soliciting comments on controlling GHG emissions and fuel consumption from trailers, to prepare a foundation for a possible future rulemaking. 

The agencies are developing these rules collaboratively under their respective authorities: the 

EPA is proposing GHG emissions standards under the Clean Air Act, and NHTSA is proposing 

fuel efficiency standards under EISA. The goal of the joint rulemakings is to produce coordinated 

federal standards that help manufacturers to build a single fleet of vehicles and engines that are 

able to comply with both. 

Proposed Standards 

It is important to note that the joint proposed standards cover not only engines but also the 

complete vehicle, allowing the agencies to achieve the greatest possible reductions in fuel consumption and GHG emissions, while avoiding unintended consequences. The majority of these 

vehicles carry payloads of goods or equipment, in addition to passengers. To account for this in 

the regulatory program, two types of standard metrics are proposed: payload-dependent gram 

per mile (and gallon per 100-mile) standards for pickups and vans; and gram per ton-mile (and 

gallon per 1,000 ton-mile) standards proposed for vocational vehicles and combination tractors. 

These proposed metrics account for the fact that the work to move heavier loads burns more 

fuel, and emits more CO2 than in moving lighter loads. 

The joint proposed standards are rooted in regulatory history, EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership program, and extensive technical and engineering analyses. In developing this HD 

National Program, the agencies have drawn from the SmartWay Transport Partnership Program 

experience to identify technologies as well as operational approaches that fleet owners, drivers, 

and freight customers can incorporate. NHTSA and EPA believe that operational measures 

promoted by SmartWay can complement the proposed standards and provide benefits for the 

existing heavy-duty fleet. 

The joint proposed standards are also heavily influenced by a study mandated by Congress in 

EISA and conducted for NHTSA by the National Research Council.7

 This study examined 

many aspects of heavy-duty vehicle fuel consumption as well as considerations for establishing 

fuel consumption standards. 

Committee to Assess Fuel Economy Technologies for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles; National 

Research Council; Transportation Research Board (2010). “Technologies and Approaches to Reducing 

the Fuel Consumption of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles,” Available electronically from the National 

Academies Press Website at http://www.nap.edu/catalog. 

4 

7 
Regulatory Announcement 

 

CO2 and Fuel Consumption Standards 

Both EPA’s and NHTSA’s joint proposed standards for the three main heavy-duty regulatory 

categories are summarized below. 

Combination Tractors 

Heavy-duty combination tractors – the semi trucks that typically pull trailers - are built to move 

freight. Freight transportation customers choose tractors primarily based on two major characteristics: the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR, which establishes the maximum carrying 

capacity of the tractor and trailer) and cab type (sleeper cabs provide overnight accommodations 

for drivers). Operators also consider the tractor roof height when mating with trailers for the 

most efficient configuration. The agencies are proposing differentiated standards for nine subcategories of combination tractors based on three attributes: weight class, cab type and roof height. 

The standards would phase in to the 2017 levels shown in Table 1. These proposed standards 

would achieve from seven to 20 percent reduction in emissions and fuel consumption from 

affected tractors over the 2010 baselines. 

Table 1: Proposed MY 2017 Combination Tractor Standards 

EPA Emissions Standards 

(g CO2/ton-mile) 

NHTSA Fuel Consumption Standards 

(gal/1,000 ton-mile) 

Low Roof Mid Roof High Roof Low Roof Mid Roof High Roof 

Day Cab Class 7 103 103 116 10.1 10.1 11.4 

Day Cab Class 8 78 78 86 7.7 7.7 8.5 

Sleeper Cab 

Class 8 64 69 71 6.3 6.8 7.0 

Heavy-Duty Pickup Trucks and Vans 

The agencies are proposing to set corporate average standards for heavy-duty pickup trucks and 

vans, similar to the approach taken for light-duty vehicles. Each manufacturer’s standard for a 

model year would depend on its sales mix, with higher capacity vehicles (payload and towing) 

having numerically less stringent target levels, and with an added adjustment for 4-wheel drive 

vehicles. This approach recognizes both the inherently higher GHG emissions and fuel consumption of higher-capacity vehicles, and the importance of payload and towing capacity to the 

owners of these work trucks and vans. 

EPA is proposing to establish standards for this segment in the form of a set of target standard 

curves, based on a “work factor” that combines a vehicle’s payload, towing capabilities, and 

whether or not it has 4-wheel drive. The standards would phase in with increasing stringency in 

each model year from 2014 to 2018. The EPA standards proposed for 2018 (including a separate 

standard to control air conditioning system leakage) represent an average per-vehicle reduction 

in GHG emissions of 17 percent for diesel vehicles and 12 percent for gasoline vehicles, compared to a common baseline. 

5 
Regulatory Announcement 

NHTSA is proposing to set corporate average standards for fuel consumption that are equivalent 

to EPA‘s proposal (though not including EPA’s proposed air conditioning leakage standard). The 

proposed NHTSA standards represent an average per-vehicle improvement in fuel consumption 

of 15 percent for diesel vehicles and 10 percent for gasoline vehicles, compared to a common 

baseline. To satisfy lead time requirements under EISA, NHTSA standards would be voluntary 

in 2014 and 2015. Both agencies are proposing to provide manufacturers with two alternative 

phase-in approaches that get equivalent overall reductions. One alternative phases the final 

standards in at 15-20-40-60-100 percent in model years 2014-2015-2016-2017-2018. The other 

phases the final standards in at 15-20-67-67-67-100 percent in model years 2014-2015-2016­

2017-2018-2019. 

Vocational Vehicles 

Vocational vehicles consist of a very wide variety of truck and bus types including delivery, 

refuse, utility, dump, cement, transit bus, shuttle bus, school bus, emergency vehicles, motor 

homes, tow trucks, and many more. Vocational vehicles undergo a complex build process, with 

an incomplete chassis often built with an engine and transmission purchased from other manufacturers, then sold to a body manufacturer. In these rules, the agencies are proposing to regulate 

chassis manufacturers for this segment. The agencies are proposing to divide this segment into 

three regulatory subcategories - Light Heavy (Class 2b through 5), Medium Heavy (Class 6 and 

7), and Heavy Heavy (Class 8), which is consistent with the engine classification. 

After engines, tires are the second largest contributor to energy losses of vocational vehicles. 

The proposed program for vocational vehicles for this phase of regulatory standards is limited 

to tire technologies and hybrid powertrains (along with the separate engine standards). The 

proposed standards depicted in Table 2 represent emission reductions from seven to 10 percent, 

from a 2010 baseline. 

Table 2: Proposed MY 2017 Vocational Vehicle Standards 

EPA Full Useful Life Emissions 

Standards (g CO2/ton-mile) 

NHTSA Fuel Consumption 

Standards (gal/1,000 ton-mile) 

Light Heavy Class 3-5 344 33.8 

Medium Heavy Class 6-7 204 20 

Heavy Heavy Class 8 107 10.5 

EPA’s Proposed N2O, CH4 and HFC Standards 

In addition to the CO2 standards described above, EPA is proposing standards for N2O and 

CH4 emissions. N2O and CH4 are important GHGs that contribute to global warming, more 

so than CO2 for the same amount of emissions. While today’s gasoline and diesel engines emit 

relatively low levels of N2O and CH4 emissions, EPA’s proposed standards would act to cap 

emissions to ensure that manufacturers do not allow the N2O and CH4 emissions of their future 

engines to increase significantly above the currently controlled low levels. 

6 
Regulatory Announcement 

Air conditioning (A/C) systems contribute to GHG emissions in two ways – direct emissions 

through refrigerant leakage and indirect emissions due to the extra load on the vehicle’s engine 

to provide power to the air conditioning system. HFC refrigerants, which are powerful GHG 

pollutants, can leak from the A/C system. EPA is proposing a standard of 1.5 percent refrigerant 

leakage per year, to assure that high-quality, low-leakage components are used in each air conditioning system design for pickup trucks, vans, and tractors. 

Program Flexibilities 

EPA’s and NHTSA’s proposed HD National Program provides flexibilities to manufacturers in 

terms of how they could comply with the new standards. These flexibilities are expected to provide sufficient lead time for manufacturers to make necessary technological improvements and 

reduce the overall cost of the program, without compromising overall environmental and fuel 

consumption objectives. 

The primary proposed flexibility provisions are an engine averaging, banking, and trading 

(ABT) program and a vehicle ABT program. These ABT programs would allow for emission 

and/or fuel consumption credits to be averaged, banked, or traded within each of the regulatory 

subcategories; however it is proposed that credits would not be allowed to be transferred across 

categories. 

In addition to the general ABT programs, EPA is proposing to allow engine manufacturers the 

added option of using CO2 credits to offset CH4 or N2O emissions that exceed the applicable 

emission standards based on the relative global warming potentials of these emissions. 

The structure of the proposed ABT program for HD engines is based closely on earlier EPA 

ABT programs for HD engines; the proposed program for pickup trucks and vans is built on 

the existing light-duty fuel economy credit carry-forward, carry-back, trading and transferring 

provisions; and first-time ABT provisions are proposed for HD vehicle manufacturers that are as 

consistent as possible with the provisions for other categories. 

The agencies are proposing three additional optional credit opportunities. The first is an early 

credit option intended for manufacturers who demonstrate improvements in excess of a proposed standard prior to the model year that it becomes effective. The second is a credit program 

intended to promote implementation of advanced technologies, such as hybrid powertrains, 

Rankine cycle engines, and electric or fuel cell vehicles. The last is a credit intended to apply to 

new and innovative technologies that reduce vehicle CO2 emissions and fuel consumption, but 

for which the benefits are not captured over the test procedure used to determine compliance 

with the standards (i.e., “off-cycle”). 

7 
Regulatory Announcement 

Public Participation Opportunities 

We welcome your comments on this action. Written comments will be accepted for 60 days 

beginning when the proposal is published in the Federal Register. All comments should be 

identified by EPA Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0162 or NHTSA Docket No. 

NHTSA-2010-0079 and submitted by one of the methods listed in the following table. 

You should consult the Federal Register notice for this joint proposal for more information 

about how to submit comments and when the comment period will close. A copy of the Federal 

Register notice can be found on the Web sites listed below. Two public hearings will be held, on 

November 15 in Chicago, IL and on November 18 in Boston, MA. Please consult the separately 

published hearing notice or the Web sites listed below for detailed information about the public 

hearings. 

Methods To Provide Comments 

Mail Hand Delivery Internet/Email 

NHTSA Docket Management Facility, 

M-30 U.S. Department of 

Transportation West Building, 

Rm. W12-140 1200 

New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

West Building, Ground Floor, Rm. 

W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, 

SE, Washington, DC 20590, between 

9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, 

Monday through Friday, except 

Federal Holidays 

www.regulations.gov 

Docket No. NHTSA2010-0079 

EPA Environmental Protection 

Agency, Air and Radiation 

Docket and Information Center 

(6102T) 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue 

NW Washington DC 20460 

EPA West building 

EPA Docket Center (Room 3340) 

1301 Constitution Avenue NW 

Washington, DC 

www.regulations.gov 

Docket No. EPA-HQOAR-2010-0162 

Email: A-and-RDocket@epa.gov

 Or speak at a public hearing 

8 
Regulatory Announcement 

 

For More Information 

You can access the proposed joint rules and related documents on EPA’s Office of Transportation 

and Air Quality (OTAQ) Web site at: 

www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/regulations.htm

You can access the proposed joint rules and related documents, including the draft Environmental 

Impact Statement, on NHTSA’s Fuel Economy Web site at: 

http://www.nhtsa.gov/fuel-economy 

For more information on these rules, please contact EPA or NHTSA at: 

EPA OTAQ Information Hotline 

Assessment and Standards Division 

(734) 214-4636 


E-mail: asdinfo@epa.gov
 

NHTSA
 

Office of Chief General Counsel
 

(202) 366-2992 

9