The California Air Resources Board on July 1 announced that trailer fleet owners have an extra 30 days – until Aug. 1 – to register their fleets if they want to take advantage of a flexible phase-in option for a new California regulation designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Tractor-Trailer Greenhouse Gas regulation requires tractors with 53-foot or longer trailers that travel in California to be equipped with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency SmartWay-verified aerodynamic technologies, including low rolling-resistance tires, skirts and fairings.
“CARB has designed this regulation so that flexible options are available to businesses for planning purposes,” said Mary Nichols, CARB chairman. “This way, businesses can add this equipment and start saving money on fuel and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
Fleets with 21 or more trailers may take advantage of a flexible option that allows fleet compliance to be phased in over five years, from 2011 through 2015. To take advantage of this phase-in option, owners must submit a compliance plan to CARB that includes a list of trailers in the fleet and the scheduled percentage of trailers to be brought into compliance each year. Fleets with 21 or more trailers that do not choose this option must bring all of their pre-2011 model year trailers into compliance by Jan. 1, 2013.