SmartWay Deadline Looms for California Carriers
By Eric Miller, Staff Reporter
This story appears in the Nov. 14 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
Many large carriers operating in California face a Jan. 1 deadline to have SmartWay-approved fuel efficient aerodynamic technology equipment installed on 15% of their pre-2011 trailer fleet.
Others that signed up late for a phase-in option must have 20% of their 53-foot or longer dry van or refrigerated trailers equipped with the technology by Jan. 1.
To comply with the California Air Resources Board’s regulation, all carriers that operate box van trailers in California must install one or more of SmartWay-approved technologies such as side skirts, front gap fairings, or rear trailer fairings that are rated to improve fuel efficiency by at least 5%.
Refrigerated carriers must choose trailer aerodynamic technologies that improve fuel efficiency by 4% or more.
“What a fleet has to do is go to the SmartWay website that lists which technologies have been approved at different fuel-saving levels,” said Mike Tunnell, director of environmental affairs for American Trucking Associations.
“They’ll need to pick from the menu one of the 5% or greater fuel-saving technologies.”
Carriers that did not register for a phase-in compliance plan will need to bring all of their pre-2011 trailers into compliance by Jan. 1, 2013.
Regardless of which option large carriers choose, they all must have 100% of their fleets equipped with the aerodynamic technologies by Jan. 1, 2016.
Small fleets — those with 20 or fewer trailers — have until the middle of 2012 to sign up for a phase-in plan, but must have 25% of their trailer fleet equipped with the technologies by Jan. 1, 2014, increasing to 100% by Jan. 1, 2017.
CARB estimates that the technologies will cost roughly $2,100 for a sleeper trailer and $2,900 for other trailers, but Tunnell said the cost could be higher.
ATA and other industry stakeholders have complained that the greenhouse-gas regulation, first approved by CARB’s board in 2008, does not offer enough flexibility for carriers to bring their fleets into compliance.
“We’re supportive of the technologies,” Tunnell said. “Our concern is really centered on the lack of flexibility in giving fleets the opportunity to elect what works best for them.”
Tunnell added, “We’re still concerned about that. We believe this program is a little too restrictive, especially for fleets that may not get the benefits — the local, lower-speed fleets.”
New trailers are supposed to have the fairings on them already or be SmartWay certified, Tunnell said.
Another requirement of the greenhouse-gas regulation calls for carriers to equip tractors and trailers with SmartWay-approved low rolling resistance tires. All carriers must have the SmartWay tires on all 2011 and newer tractors and trailers as of Jan. 1, 2010. For older tractor and trailer models the deadline is Jan. 1, 2013.
SmartWay verified tires are not required on pre-2011 trailers until 2017.
In all, CARB estimated that the cost of the trailer and tractor greenhouse gas regulation will total $10 billion industrywide.
However, in the long term the aerodynamic technologies will provide fuel cost savings, Tunnell said.
Tunnell compared the SmartWay cost-saving projections to an EPA sticker pasted on the window of a new automobile.
“It’s a standard test that SmartWay has developed to measure the fuel savings from these technologies,” he said. “When you bring them out into the real world, a lot more variables are involved.”
