Back in the day, fleets worried solely about fuel prices and the impact they would have on their operations. More recently, fleets also have focused their attention on future fuel prices, regulations governing emissions, and sustainable practices.
In the leadup to Run on Less—Electric Depot, we’ve been spending a lot of time talking about battery-electric vehicles, and we likely will be doing so at the 10 to 12 events we will be speaking at each month until the end of the year. At a recent event of state trucking associations, however, I was reminded that I need to focus more of my efforts on diesel trucks.
While we at NACFE believe battery-electric trucks are the answer for the future—a position not everyone shares—we know the transition to battery-electric vehicles will take place over decades. Today, battery-electric trucks are not viable in many duty cycles, and even if they were, there are not enough of them being produced for fleets to make the switch.
See also: Roeth: Bringing diverse solutions to trucking’s challenges
The trucking industry has made great progress in reducing emissions, but there is still work to be done. For one thing, the national average miles per gallon of heavy trucks is 6.4. The first Run on Less event demonstrated that trucks can consistently reach 10 mpg or more. The trucks in Run on Less Regional averaged 8.3 mpg, which is still significantly better than the national average.
The thing to remember here is that getting more miles from a gallon of diesel fuel is a form of decarbonizing. Let me say that again: Using less diesel to move the same amount of goods is decarbonizing freight movement. A fleet can improve its fuel efficiency in many ways, from adding aerodynamic devices to keeping tires properly inflated to setting engine parameters. The list goes on and on.
The way I see it, fleet managers today have three options: Burn less diesel, move to zero-emissions where it makes sense, and look for alternatives for those instances when battery-electric vehicles are not right. We address this directly in our report on the messy middle.
My focus lately has been on battery-electric vehicles, but they are not the way for the industry to decarbonize today. Sometimes it may seem like I forget that, especially now that we are gearing up for Run on Less—Electric Depot. Let’s pledge to remind each other that there is work to be done today to make diesel trucks more efficient, and then let's go about getting that done.
Michael Roeth has worked in the commercial vehicle industry for nearly 30 years, most recently as executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE). He serves on the second National Academy of Sciences Committee on Technologies and Approaches for Reducing the Fuel Consumption of Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles and has held various positions in engineering, quality, sales, and plant management with Navistar and Behr/Cummins.
