The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on March 29 final Phase 3 national greenhouse gas pollution standards for heavy-duty vehicles for model years 2027 through 2032.
For water well drill rig owners who will purchase heavy-duty trucks for their rigs, they can look ahead to what truck manufacturers will offer from this chart below (percentages compare the Phase 3 truck fleet standards to the Phase 2 standards issued in 2016).
"Truck-supported drilling rigs travel much shorter distances and are on the road far less than traditional heavy-duty commercial motor vehicles, so a one-size-fits-all standard does not always make sense, especially when you factor in the additional cost that comes with it,” said NGWA CEO Terry S. Morse, CAE, CIC. “We will continue to work with the EPA on this issue while understanding its desire to reach zero emissions.”
The EPA’s latest modeling shows that the final standards will result in greater reductions of pollution than the proposed rule, while providing more time and flexibility for manufacturers to develop, scale, and deploy clean heavy-duty vehicle technologies. The 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions avoided by these standards is equivalent to the emissions from more than 13 million tanker trucks’ worth of gasoline.
According to the EPA, heavy-duty vehicles account for 25 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, which is itself the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Greenhouse gas emissions are the primary driver of climate change and its impacts, including more severe heat waves, drought, sea level rise, extreme climate and weather events, coastal flooding, and catastrophic wildfires.
The EPA emission standards for heavy-duty trucks leverages the increased use of clean vehicle technologies that include, but are not limited to, advanced internal combustion vehicle engine technologies, hybrid technologies, battery-electric vehicles, and fuel cell electric vehicles. The EPA expects these technologies will have the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the heavy-duty vehicles sector.
Click here for the Final Rule: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles–Phase 3.