The North American Council for Freight Efficiency has been awarded a project to study and understand how technology adoption works to improve freight efficiency in North American Class 7 and 8 tractor-trailer operations.

The International Council on Clean Transportation is sponsoring the study.

ICCT is an independent nonprofit organization founded to provide first-rate, unbiased research and technical and scientific analysis to environmental regulators. Its mission is to improve the environmental performance and energy efficiency of road, marine, and air transportation, in order to benefit public health and mitigate climate change.

The study will include interviews with five to eight organizations in 10 stakeholder groups to build upon the barriers to technology adoption that NACFE found in their landmark study of fleets in 2011 and 2012.

In the previous study, NACFE identified the major barriers to be payback, reliability, driver and mechanic acceptance, residual value, challenge to test and competing goals inside fleets and manufacturers.

The stakeholder groups will include large and medium fleets, wholesale, retail private fleets, lease fleets, shippers, logistics, owner-operators, used truck buyer fleets, truck and trailer OEMs, major component manufacturers and new technology suppliers.

The project will be executed by NACFE along with Cascade Sierra Solutions. The study will be completed in April 2013, with presentations to ICCT and others, as well as a report will be available through NACFE.

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