Improving Fuel Economy in Heavy-Duty Vehicles

Winston Harrington () and Alan Krupnick ()
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Winston Harrington: Resources for the Future
Alan Krupnick: Resources for the Future

RFF Working Paper Series from Resources for the Future

Abstract: In September 2011, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency promulgated the first-ever federal regulations mandating fuel economy improvements for heavy-duty commercial vehicles. While the performance-based approach to these rules offers familiarity and assurances of fuel economy improvements, it also has some well-known weaknesses. In this paper, we describe fuel economy technologies for the trucking sector, its economic structure, the details of the new fuel economy regulations, and the controversies they sparked. We then address issues raised in reviewing the accompanying regulatory impact analysis. Next, we highlight some flaws of this form of regulation and suggests a variety of alternative, more market-oriented approaches that might work better.

Keywords: fuel economy; CAFE; trucks; heavy-duty vehicles; technology-based standards; regulatory impact analysis; RIA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q41 Q52 Q55 Q58 R48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-03-28
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-tre
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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