GUEST EDITORIAL
By U.S. Congresswoman Debbie
Dingell
(MI-12)
This article was published in the January 2016 edition of NTEA
News.
In less than two months, the work truck industry will
convene in Indianapolis for the Green Truck
Summit, the industry’s premier event bringing together fleet
managers, truck manufacturers, dealers, distributors and service providers to
learn about the latest in alternative fuels and advanced technology.
As those in the work truck industry know, these are
exactly the types of innovations that will drive the future of the auto industry
and keep us competitive in the global economy.
And we already have a leg up. In the last decade,
vehicle suppliers and manufacturers have made major advances in fuel efficiency.
Our nation’s vehicle fleet is more efficient today than at any time in our
history, and much of that progress is due to the cutting-edge innovations
happening in your industry. From vehicle lightweighting to telematics to
compressed natural gas, the work truck industry is investing in research and
development, and leveraging public-private partnerships that are saving
businesses and consumers money at the pump, cutting carbon emissions and moving
the country closer to energy independence.
We need to keep this momentum going. We need to build on
the advances of the last 10 years so we can continue bringing new technologies
online and building the most innovative and efficient vehicles.
That’s why, in November, I introduced the Vehicle
Innovation Act in the House of Representatives — legislation that will direct
funds for research and development of alternative fuels and advanced vehicle
technologies, and create truck-specific programs within the Department of
Energy. My Michigan colleague Senator Gary Peters is leading a companion bill
in the Senate, along with Senators Debbie Stabenow and Lamar
Alexander.
Just recently, NTEA Executive Director Steve Carey
joined us at Leggett & Platt Commercial Vehicle Products in Taylor,
Michigan, to underscore the importance of the bill. “For the work truck industry
to compete globally and continue to meet the needs of vocational truck users, it
will need to employ advanced technologies and deploy more alternatively fueled
trucks,” he said.
This legislation supports that goal by reauthorizing the
Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office, which has conducted or
funded much of the research that has achieved the energy efficiency advances of
the last decade.
For example, NTEA is currently working with vocational
truck fleets, Vehicle Technologies Office and National Renewable Energy
Laboratory to collect duty cycle data on various types of trucks. The analysis
of this data will allow manufacturers to optimize their choices of alternative
fuels and advanced technologies to be incorporated into trucks for specific
tasks.
Similarly, customers are demanding more efficient
vehicles, like the military-grade aluminum body F-150 being produced in my
hometown of Dearborn, Michigan. Ford is also planning to add aluminum to its
Super Duty truck starting in 2017.
There have been other great successes as well. The
Vehicle Technologies Office has partnered with Nissan and Cummins to design a
diesel engine that is as quiet and clean as a gasoline engine, yet 30-percent
more efficient. The Cummins 5L V8 turbo diesel is making its debut in the next
year in Nissan’s 2016 Titan full-sized pickup truck.
Our bill would provide the Department of Energy with
clear direction to continue building on these successful research programs, and
provide a stable funding authorization to support them.
It would also offer a framework for technology
development through collaboration with light-duty automobile and medium- and
heavy-duty commercial truck engineers, manufacturers
and suppliers.
We don’t know which technologies are going to lead the
next generation of breakthroughs, and the Vehicle Innovation Act doesn’t pick
winners and losers. Instead, it provides a technology-neutral approach to
vehicle research, which will allow innovations in a wide range of fields, which
could include aerodynamics, lightweighting, internal combustion engine
efficiency, alternative fuels and vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems,
just to name a few. It’s up to scientists and researchers to determine which
paths forward offer the best chances for successful innovation.
Regardless of what types of research take place, we know
the work truck industry will continue to lead the way. The Green Truck Summit
provides an important opportunity to share insights and strategies for
increasing fleet efficiency into the future.
As the event approaches and in the weeks that follow, I
look forward to working with all of you to support these cutting-edge
innovations, and I will continue working to move this important legislation
across the finish line so the nation can lead in developing high-tech,
energy-efficient vehicles.
To learn more about the Green Truck Summit, scheduled March 1–3,
2016, in conjunction with The Work Truck Show 2016, visit worktruckshow.com.