Obama Announces New Fuel Efficiency Standards

As we told you on Friday, President Barack Obama announced new fuel consumption and emission standards to be applied to medium and heavy duty trucks. The new regulations, which will take effect for both categories in 2014, are an extension of the ones announced last year for cars and light trucks.

"I believe that it's possible in the next 20 years for vehicles to use half the fuel and produce half the pollution that they do today," Obama said in a speech, after announcing the new regulations.

Currently. There are no numbers to be attached with the new regulations. President Obama named the Department of Transportation (DoT) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in charge of developing the rules and standards. The regulations will need to apply to trucks built between 2014 and 2018. Starting from 2017, a new set of rules will apply for trucks built by 2025.

The goals of the new rules are the reduction of oil dependency in the US and the reduction of CO2 and other harmful emission. According to Obama, the new standards, which will be the equivalent of taking 50 million cars off the streets, will also create some 700,000 new jobs.

"Increasing the fuel efficiency of all vehicles on the road, including trucks and buses, enhances our national security, reduces global warming pollution, and saves families and small businesses money. It will also encourage American entrepreneurship, as innovators race to create the next generation of energy-efficient vehicles. And it will enable consumers to buy technology made in America,” added speaker Nancy Pelosi.