With downsized engines, turbocharging, electrified powertrains, wind-cheating aerodynamics, safety-mandated proportions, and lightweighting, among many other strategies, modern passenger vehicles are dramatically different than those of a decade ago?and, more than ever, that’s a product of regulation. Tougher fuel-economy regulations adopted in 2011 are a strong influence and continue to ramp up toward a required fleet average of more than 50 mpg by 2025. Now, that rapid change is about to sweep across the truck market, affecting everything from heavy-duty pickups to buses, airport shuttle vans, garbage trucks and, yes, even semis.
With the release of final draft language this week, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have jointly adopted tighter second-round standards for larger trucks that complements radical changes for personal and family vehicles. In all, it?s a more aggressive plan that, from 2018 to 2027, will dramatically improve the fuel economy of the nation?s big rigs and cut carbon-dioxide emissions. Proposed standards were released last year. Compared with that earlier version, the new rules aim to add 10 percent to the total carbon-reduction target. And although it?s truly too early to tell, it may entirely change the math of why you would opt for a heavy-duty pickup over a light-duty one.

It’s a necessary change, the administration argues. With passenger-vehicle fuel us...