The White House announced that fuel efficiency standards for larger trucks will be in the offing for the 2014 model year; that will change what is under the hood for freight carriers and possibly change how they do their business. That will force truck makers to improve the fuel efficiency of standard truck engines and increase the emphasis on alternative fuel trucks. Truck manufacturers will likely look to hybrid technologies, battery-powered engines, aerodynamics, and other fuel-saving techniques, especially for short-haul trucks that can recharge their batteries back at base at the end of the day.
While the amount of battery power required to run a Class 8 truck would be rather massive, an extended tractor that could hold a bay of batteries would be feasible if there was an incentive for the truck makers to make such a monster battery grid. If the grid had, say, a 600-mile range, it could run for ten hours straight at 60MPH and then charge while the driver was taking its down-time at a truck stop equipped with chargers. However, that would require getting a network of recharging stations at truck stops or rest areas, which might become a DOT budget item to encourage those places to install chargers.
The new engines will likely be costlier and make demand for the 2014 models drop at first, just as the new 2010 emission standards raised prices for this year’s models; that will likely see a jump in costs and thus a corresponding jump in freight rates in the mid 10s, if the reduced fuel costs from better efficiency don’t offset the increased price of the engines.
Tags: freight forwarders, freight moving, freight transport, freight trucking