Major Transportation Sector Due For A Makeover

What do your food, clothing, and this computer have in common? They arrived to the shelves of local stores by heavy truck. Essential to consumer society, trucking is regarded as the easiest and quickest means to get everything we need from supplier to seller to you.

Yet trucking is in trouble as growing numbers of independent owner operators go bankrupt. Oil price volatility and nitrogen oxide emission regulations (CO2 emissions are yet unregulated) are hitting the industry hard. Scant improvements have been adopted industry-wide to increase fuel efficiency. Freight trucking was 2008’s second greatest petroleum products user in the United States. Trucks consume 2.4 million barrels per day and their greenhouse emissions have risen over 50 percent since 1990, while the light-duty vehicle sector has only increased about 13 percent.

Recent economic conditions mixed with market uncertainty makes it difficult for fleet owners, who already operate on very slim profit margins, to make investments in technologies to improve efficiency. The industry crisis can also present opportunities for good design and technology to profitably transform the industry by reducing waste and increasing efficiency.

In April, over forty industry experts had a rare gathering in Denver for a “Transformational Trucking Charrette”. Tech experts, stakeholders, and folks working on environmental/policy solutions spent three days focusing on doubling trucking’s efficiency.

The event’s rarity highlights one of the fragmented industry’s obstacles: alignment. To accelerate the business case for fuel conservation, stakeholders need to consolidate the multiple, often-competing “visions” for trucking’s future. This is harder than it seems.

Like any complex issue, there’s no single solution for achieving widespread trucking efficiency gains. Technologies that could help heavy-duty trucks achieve doubled efficiency are available, but are not yet widely adopted. Discussions revealed that a range of interconnected barriers is putting the brakes on efficient trucking. How can truck-makers with a new technology transform its assembly line and get it into the market successfully without a solid projection for demand? On the other side of the coin, why would fleet owners or truck drivers demand technologies about which they have little knowledge, whose success and profitability are unproven?

Additionally, states have policies and regulations that are often contradictory and inconsistent. A number of state and federal policies seeking to mitigate trucking’s environmental impact by reducing particulate matter and nitrous oxide emissions, do so by sacrificing efficiency.

Such barriers are not insurmountable. Many freight customers have begun demanding climate-friendly supply chains, and some market forces are pushing energy efficiency in freight transportation. So, what’s the trucking industry’s future? The group was consistent and clear in the need for a unified, prioritized, and maintained policy. Also, immediate and equal consideration of efficiency, ways to get technologies into the marketplace, and consumer education are imperative.

Three other initiatives emerged from Denver.

First, “Freight Without Borders”. Organizing industry and government stakeholders to accelerate efficiency while creating jobs in energy research areas and business. Harmonizing the hodgepodge of weight and size rules between states (even counties) allows long compound vehicles (with proper design) to save fuel while reducing congestion and road wear.

A goal is to convince policy makers that we need a “National Freight Strategy.” Such a strategy would allow experts and organizations to harness what knowledge exists, and inform policy makers on a national strategy.

The second initiative, a U.S. Council for Freight Efficiency (USCFE) could be established as an independent body to asses and help apply improved technology and methods. A non-profit council to deliver publicly accessible technology data to stimulate the adoption of efficient vehicles and components.

Finally, a program to develop a new truck that achieves twice the efficiency of traditional trucks. This will help accelerate the development of vehicle efficiency, components and systems, and their profitable commercialization. It would establish true efficiency limits for long-haul Class 8 trucks using the above-mentioned USCFE’s testing methodologies. The project will test the new concepts from the first two proposed programs. It will also inform consumers and policy-makers on the feasibility of transforming the trucking industry.

These goals are ambitious and important. The wheels towards profitable and sustainable trucking are rolling. That’s a 10-4 good buddy.