Manufacturers call for better energy efficiency in road transport

Heavy-duty vehicle and engine manufacturing companies are urging closer cooperation between policy makers in Europe, the United States and Japan to develop practical and effective fuel-efficiency measurement metrics, methodologies and regulations which could then be used worldwide. Over a dozen chief executives of the global commercial vehicle industry, including Caterpillar, Cummins, Daimler, Hino, Isuzu, Iveco, Mack, MAN, Mitsubishi Fuso, Navistar, Nissan Diesel, Scania, Volvo and Volkswagen, met in Brussels to discuss various opportunities and needs their industry is facing. As a result of the meeting, the chief executives agreed to initiate a proposal to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to develop a certification procedure of heavy-duty hybrid electric vehicles based upon the HILS (Hardware-In-the-Loop Simulator) procedure used in Japan and to ask UNECE to address this issue with urgency. (December 7, 2009)