Greenhouse Gas Management for

Medium-Duty Truck Fleets

 	
 	 
	    	
2 | Greenhouse Gas Management for Medium-Duty Truck Fleets

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Select lower-carbon vehicles 4

	 	 	  
 

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Track GHG emissions 9

     
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The road ahead 10
3 | Greenhouse Gas Management for Medium-Duty Truck Fleets

Introduction

Medium-duty trucks, identified as Classes 3–6, are the

workhorses of the American economy. These vehicles deliver

food and beverages to restaurants and convenience stores, drop

off packages at homes and offices, serve as mobile workshops

for all types of technicians, and perform thousands of other daily

tasks. They also use a lot of fuel – over 8 billion gallons a year.

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TYPES OF DIESEL

EMISSIONS: Diesel-powered

vehicles produce two types of

environmental impacts. This paper

focuses on reducing their contribution

to global warming. In addition, diesel

vehicles also create near-term human

health impacts as a result of emitting

particulate matter and smog-forming

pollution. These emissions are linked

to heart and lung ailments, low birth

weight in infants, and stunted lung

development in children.

The introduction of ultra-low sulfur

diesel and the 2010 diesel engine

requirements place stricter

regulations on particulate matter and

nitrogen oxides and are intended to

reduce these emissions by 95%.

Existing diesel vehicles, of course, will

continue to pollute. However, many

pre-2010 diesel vehicles can use

retrofit devices to reduce emissions.

To increase the adoption of these

devices, the U.S. federal government

and several states have made funding

available to purchase some of these

devices. More information is available

at edf.org/greenfleet.
4 | Greenhouse Gas Management for Medium-Duty Truck Fleets

Select lower-carbon vehicles

The most important environmental decision a fleet manager

makes is which vehicles to have in the fleet. Relatively minor

changes in vehicle selection can result in significant

environmental—and financial—benefits over time. Consider the

following strategies when choosing vehicles for your fleet.

Move to lower GVW trucks

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Consider high-efficiency advanced technology vehicles

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Fuel economy effect of truck class downsizing

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Truck class GVWR range Average fuel

economy

(mpg)

Fuel efficiency benefits

of downsizing

3 10,001 – 14,000 10.5 24% (from class 4)

4 14,001 – 16,000 8.5 8% (from class 5)

5 16,001 – 19,500 7.9 13% (from class 6)

6 19,501 – 26,000 7.0 9% (from class 7)

7 26,001 – 33,000 6.4

IN PRACTICE: For years, FritoLay used 24-foot Class 6 straight

trucks for urban grocery store

deliveries. It recently found they could

use a 20-foot Class 5 straight truck to

do the same job, with a fuel savings

of roughly 10%.

IN PRACTICE: Medium-duty

hybrid trucks have arrived. There are

nearly 2,000 of these vehicles on the

road today. FedEx, UPS, Pepsi,

Coca-Cola, Purolator Courier, AT&T,

and Florida Power & Light are among

the over-150 companies that have

these vehicles in their fleets.

Depending on duty-cycle, these

vehicles can slash global warming

emissions up to 50% and decrease

particulate matter (soot) by over 90%

over traditional diesel vehicles. They

are available in many models,

including: Utility, Step Van, Delivery,

PTO, Refuse and Step-in.
5 | Greenhouse Gas Management for Medium-Duty Truck Fleets

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Explore lower-carbon fuels

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IN PRACTICE: In 2009, Sysco

Foods received funding to help put 25

hybrids on the road in Maryland,

through a grant from Maryland Clean

Cities, a program funded by the

Department of Energy through the

American Recovery and

Reinvestment Act.
6 | Greenhouse Gas Management for Medium-Duty Truck Fleets

Spec for efficiency

Some of your vehicle components can be optimized to achieve

better fuel efficiency and lower emissions. Many of the options

listed below can work for both new and existing vehicles.

Deploy alternative power sources for auxiliary operations

 
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Install routing software

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Reduce vehicle tare weight

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Fuel Economy Effect of Tare Weight Reduction Truck

ii

Truck Class GVWR range Average Tare

Weight (lbs)

Fuel economy improvement for each

1,000 lbs of tare weight reduction

4 14,001 – 16,000 10,343 5.6%

5 16,001 – 19,500 10,413 4.7%

6 19,501 – 26,000 13,942 3.9%

7 26,001 – 33,000 18,094 2.8%

8A 33,001 – 60,000 23,525 1.9%

8B 60,000+ 28,979 1.1%

IN PRACTICE: Kraft Foods

operates a large and diverse fleet,

most of which needs to be

temperature-controlled. For its frozen

DiGiorno pizzas business unit, Kraft

recently purchased an International

Durastar diesel-electric hybrid

delivery truck equipped with a

RouteMax refrigerated body. The unit

also includes a cold plate refrigeration

system. The hybrid system nearly

doubles the amount of time that the

cold plate provides cooling. The

system is expected to save as much

as 1,400 gallons of fuel per year

compared with a traditional dieselpowered refrigerated blower unit.
7 | Greenhouse Gas Management for Medium-Duty Truck Fleets

Adjust electronic control modules (ECM)

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Change to low-rolling resistance tires

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Install aerodynamic improvements

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IN PRACTICE: Staples has

reprogrammed the transmissions on

all of its single-unit trucks. The trucks

have automatic transmissions and

Staples modified the transmission

control unit to lower the RPM

threshold to shift into higher gears.

The net effect of this strategy and

speed governing (a 60 mph limit was

implemented at the same time) was a

fleet-wide increase in fuel economy of

12-16%.

IN PRACTICE: Two years ago,

PoolCorp’s fleet management

provider, PHH, conducted a

maintenance and repair study of

PoolCorp's medium and heavy trucks.

As a result of this study, PHH made a

number of recommendations,

including adjustments to the Engine

Control Unit (ECU) settings of

PoolCorp's trucks. These adjustments

limited the top speed of the trucks to

70 mph, and engine idle intervals

were set at a maximum of five

minutes. On the trucks where the

adjustment was completed, PoolCorp

has seen a 4% improvement in fuel

economy.

IN PRACTICE: LKQ, a leading

aftermarket parts supplier for the

automotive industry, recently

conducted a pilot of PHH Onboard®,

a telematics solution. During the pilot,

LKQ was able to reduce idling by 62%

and significantly reduce speeding and

after-hours use. All of this added up to

a savings of 15.9 gallons per vehicle

per month. Across the entire fleet, this

would mean a 5,300 ton reduction of

GHG emissions.
8 | Greenhouse Gas Management for Medium-Duty Truck Fleets

Engage drivers in reductions

How a vehicle is operated significantly affects fuel consumption

and emissions. The drivers of your company’s vehicles have a

vital role to play in reaching corporate greenhouse gas emission

reduction goals.

Inform drivers about fuel-smart driving practices

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Recognize driver performance

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Provide drivers with meaningful incentives

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IN PRACTICE: Early in 2008,

Poland Spring decided to focus on

reducing idling time. Through an

existing onboard computing system,

they knew their fleet was idling for as

much as 1,400 hours per month

during the winter months. Chris

McKenna, the fleet manager at

Poland Spring, decided to openly rank

drivers to pinpoint those that were

idling the most. “All we did was talk to

them about it, and put a list up in the

break room,” McKenna told us.

“Human nature—no one wants to be

at the bottom of the list.” To sweeten

the deal, the ten drivers who had the

lowest idling time got a gift card for

fuel they could use in their own cars.

The results were dramatic. Year over

year, idling time dropped from 1,400

hours in February 2007 to 1,000

hours in February 2008 to just 380

hours in February 2009. Cutting idling

time has reduced the fleet’s fuel

consumption by 8,000 gallons and

greenhouse gas emissions by about

77 tons per year. Depending on fuel

costs, cutting idling time has saved

the company thousands of dollars a

year—roughly $20,000 during 2008,

for example. “We didn’t have to come

up with elaborate rules,” McKenna

says. “We just made suggestions and

asked them to use their own best

judgment.”
9 | Greenhouse Gas Management for Medium-Duty Truck Fleets

Track GHG emissions

As you consider implementing one or more of these strategies, it

is important to understand your starting point. Successful fleet

environmental management means actively measuring and

reducing your fleet’s greenhouse gas emissions over time.

Create fuel and mileage data capture systems

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Set greenhouse gas emissions baseline

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DIFFERENT GHG EMISSIONS

Vehicles emit greenhouse gases

mainly during the combustion of fuel.

The most prominent greenhouse gas

emitted is carbon dioxide (CO2).

Methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide

(N2O) are emitted in smaller

quantities. Vehicles also contribute to

global warming through noncombustion releases of air

conditioning refrigerants (HCFCs).

Additionally, particulate matter from

diesel vehicles (also known as “black

carbon”) can have a significant, shortterm warming effect.

Emissions of methane and nitrous

oxide are most accurately tracked via

vehicle miles traveled. To track these,

companies should know the annual

miles of each vehicle and the

corresponding vehicle model year. To

fully account for emissions of HFCS,

fleets need data on the capacity of

each vehicle’s air conditioning

system, its rate of leakage, any

system recharges and charge at time

of disposal. There is no standardized

method presently to account for the

global warming impact of a fleet’s

emissions of black carbon particles.

Given that carbon dioxide emissions

comprise the vast majority of

greenhouse gas emissions from

trucks— over 99% under normal

operating circumstances—and are the

easiest to track, we recommend that

fleets focus first on measuring and

reducing carbon dioxide.
10 | Greenhouse Gas Management for Medium-Duty Truck Fleets

The road ahead

Rising energy costs and climate change are long-term

businesses challenges. They are particularly relevant to truck

fleets, which consume a lot of fuel and are highly visible to

customers and the general public. Fortunately, tools and

technologies exist today that can get us started on the road

towards our lower-emissions future.

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