Big trucks congesting roads and towns have often been targeted as having a major impact on climate change due to the high level of CO2 and pollutant emissions they release in the atmosphere. But a closer look to the present trends in the automotive & trucking industry suggests a different figure. Truck and truckers seem are taking the green road.

Recent developments in the trucking sector regulation – especially in Canada and the US – have been introducing a new eco-friendly legal framework for new trucks: for instance, they have to be equipped with smog-free engines using diesel particulate filters that capture all but 0.1 grams of the gases’ particles, and by 2010, all diesel powered engines must in theory produce no NOx emissions.

At the same time, eco-friendly trucking technologies are spreading in the market while truckers and carriers boost the demand with their new eco-compatible vocation: aerodynamics wind-fairings and trailer skirts, or more fuel efficient wide-based tires – even though some innovations are still blocked by other regulatory barriers – are just some of them.

But the major breakthrough comes from hybrid trucks: the first medium-duty hybrid truck was presented in 2007 and an electric-hybrid semi truck entered full scale production in 2008. Since then, the technical solutions for hybrid engines and hybrid truck models are going through a steady growth, and are relentlessly conqueering market positions as well. Companies like Coca-Cola, Ups, FedEx are all investing in renovating their fleets by buying hybrid trucks for short-haul deliveries; Wal-Mart planned to increase its fleet efficiency by 25% by using big rids hybrid trucks, and is expecting fuel savings for 10.000$ per year for each hybrid vehicle compared with any non-hybrid models.
Hybrid trucks are delivering good news these days, and when this freight will reach our over trafficked mountain areas such as Alpine passes, benefits might be very tangible.

Related articles

UPS is the Green Truck Leader

Hybrid Trucks: What You Need To Know

“The Green Mile” by Marco Beghetto (Partners – The official magazine of the Italian Chamber of Commerce of Toronto, p. 18-21)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Energy Efficient Diesel Engines Noted For Future Energy-Savings Potential (eon.businesswire.com)
• FedEx to introduce its first electric truck in US (sfgate.com)
• Eaton Hybrid Systems Achieve 30 Million Miles of Service Worldwide (eon.businesswire.com)
• FedEx Introduces First All-Electric Trucks To Be Used in the U.S. Parcel Delivery Business (eon.businesswire.com)
• FedEx to introduce its first electric truck in US (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

The official website