- =- : :;:,-

,· ~ 

'· \\ 

THE 

PEW 

CHARITABLE TRUSTS 

Contact: 

Jason Wynne 

Senior Associate, Clean Energy Initiative 

The Pew Charitable Trusts 

Email: jwynne@pewtrusts.org 

The Pew Charitable Trusts Testimony on Proposed Phase 2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards and 

Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles 

August 181

h, 2015 

Long Beach, California 

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comment today on the Phase 2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions 

Standards and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles. My name is 

Jason Wynne and I am a Senior Associate with The Pew Charitable Trusts' Clean Energy Initiative. Pew is 

a non-profit organization dedicated to improving public policy, informing the public and invigorating 

civic life. The clean energy initiative has supported prior fuel economy standards promulgated by the 

Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for passenger 

and light-duty vehicles. We commend the agencies' latest efforts to set ambitious and achievable 

efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Improving the efficiency of America' s 

transportation vehicles is good for our economy, our national security, and our environment. 

The sensibility of these efforts is reflected in the fact that more than 300 businesses and organizations 

signed a letter of support for the agencies to develop strong standards that will cut oil consumption, 

reduce fuel costs for companies that rely on trucks, and decrease emissions across America's roads and 

highways.1 This group of signers includes fleet owners, truck component manufacturers, alternative fuel 

producers, and companies whose products are shipped via freight- demonstrating the broad range of 

industry stakeholders who want to save money and fuel and reduce emissions from these vehicles. 

While medium- and heavy-duty vehicles make up a small portion of traffic on the road, they are the 

second largest and fastest growing segment of the U.S. transportation sector in terms of emissions and 

energy use. Establishing smart and affordable standards will facilitate a more sustainable trajectory for 

this expanding industry. The standards under consideration today will help do just that- saving vehicle 

owners $170 billion on fuel costs, reducing harmful carbon pollution by nearly 1 billion metric tons, and 

reducing oil consumption by up to 1.8 billion barrels- more than a year's worth of US imports from 

OPEC. 2 

1 The Pew Charitable Trusts. Stakeholders Call for More Energy-Efficient Trucks. 

http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/about/news-room/news/2015/05/28/stakeholders-call-for-more-energy-efficienttrucks 

2 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Cutting Carbon Pollution, Improving Fuel Efficiency, Saving Money, and 

Supporting Innovation for Trucks. http://www.epa.gov/otag/climate/documents/420f15900.pdf 
Setting fuel efficiency and emissions standards for these vehicles also will help spur new technology 

innovations in this sector. The Department of Energy's "SuperTruck" program demonstrates that 

dramatic changes in fuel economy are possible for Class 8 tractor-trailers. These "SuperTrucks" can 

achieve over 10 miles per gallon under real-world conditions- up from today's 6 miles per gallon rating 

for heavy-duty trucks.3 Through public-private partnerships as well as research and development, we 

can help bring new advanced vehicle technologies to the marketplace in a cost-competitive way. 

The International Council on Clean Transportation reports that other countries including China and 

Japan are looking to strengthen efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles- providing 

U.S. entrepreneurs an opportunity to develop new technologies here in the U.S. and export to countries 

to meet their next policy goals. 4 

While collectively the proposed Phase 2 standards will yield $230 billion in societal benefits, some 

industry experts have noted that even stronger standards are feasible and could achieve up to 40% 

greater efficiency among these vehicles by 2025, as compared to 2010 levels.5 We encourage the EPA 

and NHTSA to consider the information provided by these experts and look for opporitunies to 

strengthen the proposed standards. Furthermore, we ask that the EPA and NHTSA continue working 

with the Department of Energy and its national laboratories to support public programs that will help 

facilitate advanced vehicle technologies in the marketplace. 

Thank you, again, for the opportunity to testify and I am happy to address any questions you may have. 

3 U.S. Department of Energy. SuperTruck Making Leaps in Fuel Efficiency. 

http://energy.gov/eere/articles/supertruck-making-leaps-fuel-efficiency 4 The International Council on Clean Transportation. Policies to reduce fuel consumption, air pollution, and carbon 

emissions from vehicles in G20 nations. http://theicct.org/policies-reduce-fuel-consumption-air-pollution-andcarbon-emissions-vehicles-g20-nations 5 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Cutting Carbon Pollution, Improving Fuel Efficiency, Saving Money, and 

Supporting Innovation for Trucks. http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/documents/420f15900.pdf; 

American Council for an Energy-Efficiency Economy. Big Fuel Savings Available in New Trucks 

http:// a ceee. o rg/fi les/pd f/fa ct -sheet/truck -sa vi ngs-0614. pdf