The U.S. government, Detroit automakers and truck manufacturers are expanding a partnership to jump-start a new generation of more fuel-efficient heavy trucks and buses,
according to a story in the Detroit News.
U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham was expected to detail plans for the enhanced project at the start of a two-day conference on personal transportation Tuesday in Dearborn, Mich.
The revamped partnership will focus in part on developing new engines that use alternative fuels and heavy-duty trucks that use gasoline-electric powertrains, minimizing or eliminating engine idling, and reducing the loss of energy from aerodynamic drag.
The program will also explore ways to improve the safety and security of heavy-duty trucks.
The truck initiative -- dubbed the "New Vision for the 21st Century Truck Partnership" -- is modeled after FreedomCAR, the Bush administration's automotive research program aimed at commercializing fuel cells to boost the fuel economy of cars and light trucks.
Goals of the 21st Century Truck Partnership include:
-- Establish new research, development priorities to develop more fuel efficient, affordable heavy trucks and buses.
-- Develop combustion engines that use new types of renewable fuels.
-- Move forward on development of heavy trucks that use gas-electric hybrid power trains.
-- Improve the safety of heavy-duty vehicles.
-- Develop technologies to reduce engine idling.
-- Reduce energy losses from aerodynamic drag and from rolling resistance of tires.
Rather than setting new fuel economy targets, the 21st Century Truck Partnership will focus on more incremental improvements on fuel economy, pollution levels and safety advances, according to those familiar with the program. Specific benchmarks will be set as research work goes forward. Besides the Department of Energy, the partnership includes the Defense and Transportation departments and Environmental Protection Agency.
Private sector partners include General Motors Corp., DaimlerChrysler AG, Allison Transmission and engine manufacturers Detroit Diesel Corp., Caterpillar Inc. and Cummins Inc.
Other members include Mack Truck, Volvo Truck, Freightliner LLC, Honeywell, Eaton, BAE Systems, Nova BUS, Oshkosh and Paccar Inc.
The group intends to help the industry focus on promising technologies, build on each other's research and spotlight the role trucks can play in reducing oil consumption and air pollution.
The effort is also expected to pay dividends for the trucking industry by accelerating the introduction of new safety advances, such as collision avoidance and rollover prevention devices.
According to Jason Mark, director of the clean vehicles program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, heavy trucks and buses are a major source of oil consumption and air pollution. They represent about 2% of all vehicles on United States roads, but account for two-thirds of all soot pollution and about 30% of all smog-forming pollution from highway vehicles, Mark said.
The same vehicles consume roughly 2.3 million barrels of oil a day -- about the same amount of oil imported from the Persian Gulf, Mark said.
Mark, author of "Rolling Smokestacks," a report on truck emissions, said the loss of the program's initial ambitious fuel economy goals might lessen its impact.
"The challenge for a research and development program is getting technologies out of the laboratory and onto the road," Mark said. "Painting a picture of what a 21st Century truck should look like is a great incentive for getting it out on the road."