UPS

‘Unripe technologies’ may undermine the goals of proposed Phase 2 rules governing greenhouse gas emissions from medium- and heavy-duty, argues the giant transporter, with a motor fleet that numbers over 100,000 trucks. The danger, UPS tell EPA and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, joint proposers of rules to govern GHG emissions for model years up to 2027, is that “premature deployment will actually hurt the environment, especially the carbon footprint of trucking in America. . . .The use of immature technologies will also eat up the limited engineering expertise of engine and truck manufacturers.” UPS cites a “prime example. . .of such premature deployment” in aftermarket treatment technology on diesel trucks: ”Its cost, difficulty in service and in maintenance, and lack of customization all have discouraged the use of diesel engines and shifted trucking toward” a different engine that is “substantially less thermodynamically efficient than the compression ignition engine.” Diesel, UPS says, also has failed in the medium-truck class and the company has shifted 25,000 of these trucks from diesel to gasoline. “We offer this warning,” it says, ”only to emphasize the danger to the industry, and even to the environment, of pressing too hard on unripe technologies,” adding that the EPA/NHTSA proposal “does not attempt to address” the described problems.