Heavy Duty Trucking, September 2019

HDT SEPTEMBER 2019 38 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM he Environmental Protection Agency is making some changes to its SmartWay program that offers information on verified fuel efficient technologies Day cabs are now eligible for the SmartWay designation and research into fuel efficient retreads will result in changes to how those products are classified SmartWay day cabs Responding to requests from SmartWay fleet partners and recognizing a growing trend toward increased regional trucking EPA has expanded the SmartWay designation program to include both day cabs and sleeper cabs The agency expects SmartWay day cabs will be used in regional haul operations where trucks travel longer daily distances but are still home every night where operations lend themselves to low rolling resistance tires and cab aerodynamics They dont predict much penetration of this into specialty areas such as beverage delivery or port drayage EPA originally focused on long haul sleeper cabs because thats where the bulk of the fuel was consumed What we found as we continued our research was the same low rolling resistance and aerodynamic technologies were having an impact even on day cabs specifically with configurations that are high roof and tend to match well with a box trailer explained Sam Waltzer SmartWay technology team leader within EPAs Technology Assessment Center We found they can still make a difference Even when regional trucks arent traveling at highway speeds these technologies can still make a difference if not as great a one as vehicles that spend most of their day on the open road he said EPA has been evaluating the fuel savings performance of these technologies at different speeds and found that aero devices still offer savings at speeds of 40 50 mph but they may be half as much as with vehicles traveling at highway speeds And rolling resistance is still a factor at all vehicle speeds although the fuel savings may not be as great and there may be more trade offs in these applications that need to be considered Today there are a large variety of low rolling resistance tires and fleets should not just accept the standard regional spec that comes on the truck as the best option If you are using day cabs and lower speed operations said EPA officials look at different types of low rolling resistance tires compared to what you have on your tractor Thats because you very well may be able to get substantial fuel savings from low rolling resistance tires new or retreads One difference in the day cab specs is idle reduction Sleeper cab fleets have the option of explaining the alternate strategies theyre using to reduce idling if they dont EPA adds SmartWay day cab program revising retread tire specs Fleets running fuel efficient regional day cabs can now get their trucks recognized by SmartWay install idle reduction equipment such as auxiliary power units or battery powered air conditioning For day cabs where overnight sleeping is not a factor this isnt required although EPA officials noted that there still can be benefits to providing idle reduction technologies for day cab operators that may have prolonged wait times EPA officials noted that these programs are living and change as the industry changes and that things such as idle reduction or length of chassis cab fairings could be addressed in future versions of the program SmartWay retreads When EPA first worked to add retreads to its program it was a challenge to quantify the relative fuel efficiency of a two part system How much fuel savings was from the tread itself and how much from the casing The agency developed an interim retread protocol by which all retreaders tested their treads on the same model casing that the EPA felt represented a typical tire an American made Yokohama Super Steel RY 617 in size 295 75R225 In an effort to keep up with the changing market a couple of years ago EPA started doing some of its own testing on retreads applied to different casings We Deborah Lockridge Editor in Chief dlockridge@ truckinginfo com FUEL SMARTS Plus NACFE report on idle reduction tractor trailer pairing T SOURCE SMARTWAY