The number of trucks with clean diesel engines has reached 30% according to research by the Diesel Technology Forum. There are now nearly 3 million trucks on the road with these clean diesel engines.
These trucks are producing fewer carbon dioxide emissions, less NOx emissions and are showing significant improvements in fuel economy.
Allen Schaeffer, the group’s executive director, says over the past five years these trucks equipped with clean diesel have saved 4.2 billion gallons of diesel fuel and reduced 43 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, 21 million tonnes of NOx and 1.2 million tonnes of particulate matter.
So congratulations to all the fleets and owner-operators who have made the investment in these newer, cleaner diesels. While the initial purchase price of trucks with clean diesel is higher, fleets that have invested in them tend to focus on the total cost of ownership. They understand that the fuel savings resulting from these cleaner diesels offsets the initial purchase price.
Even with today’s lower fuel prices, fuel still is a significant cost center for fleets and anything that can help them get more miles per gallon of fuel and has a reasonable payback period is something they are willing to invest in.
Fleets that have held off on updating to trucks spec’d with cleaner diesels because they did not want to pay the upcharge should be heartened by the fuel savings and other benefits these newer engines are delivering. Hopefully we will continue to see the percentage of clean diesels grow just as we did this year with a rise to 30% from 25.7% last year.
More miles per gallon of fuel means less fuel used. And less fuel used means less money spent on fuel. What’s not to like about that?
