[elhigh]

I don't know about how you could go about mandating different fuel economies for the different classes of trucks.

I'm not technically proficient enough to completely parse out what is meant by a target thermal efficiency.

However, of this much I'm pretty certain: higher fuel efficiencies for trucks is good for the US. It's good for everyone, every man woman and child. Everybody who has to inhale more than once in their life is going to benefit from higher fuel efficiencies in trucks. That's one aspect.

Economically speaking, it's slightly more limited. The fuel refiners, the fuel brokers, the fuel pumpers will suffer. It won't be great for them. But with lower overall fuel demand we could rely more on our own oil instead of foreign, so that's good for the US and displaces some of the lost revenues to foreign interests. Again, not great for them.

The reduced operating costs would encourage updating truck fleets to the newer, thriftier models. That's good for business, especially if we get domestic manufacturers off their butts in a hurry to step up to the challenge.

Reduced fuel costs telegraph throughout the economy to yield lower finished goods prices at the store.

This much I'm sure of. Of course we won't see the full benefit - everyone will want to cut their little slice out of the pie - or even the actual reduced prices, it may manifest as reduced inflation or delayed inflation. It's still a win, but a kind of backhanded, grudging one.

Now, if we could just pitch it to the Powers That Be from that standpoint, loudly enough to shout down the most vested lobby with the money to shout even louder, the oil producers, we might get some traction at making this real.