The White House unveiled the first ever fuel efficiency standards for medium and heavy duty trucks such as semis, buses, garbage trucks and three-quarter-ton pickups. The standards call for those vehicles to reduce fuel consumption between 10 and 20 percent all varying on the design and purposes of the vehicle. The new rules will go into effect for the 2014 model year and run through 2018. They will be required to follow a 2007 energy law that will boost the efficiency up to 20 percent.

Before the 2007 energy law came to fruition, medium and heavy duty trucks faced no regulations, unlike light duty vehicles that were subject to Corporate Average Fuel Economy mandates. The program covers most vehicles over the 8,500 pound mark, but does not include trailers. They may be regulated in later rulemaking. The standards for the medium and heavy duty trucks come less than two weeks after President Obama had reached a deal in principle with major automakers and the state of California to boost more fuel efficiency standards for light duty vehicles to 54.5 mpg by 2025 (just in time for Judgment Day).

The regulation will be proposed by the end of next month and finalized by July 2012. Under the new program, buses and trucks built from 2014 through 2018 will significantly reduce greenhouse gas pollution by approximately 270 million metric tons. Vehicles are divided into three major categories: heavy duty pickup trucks and vans, combination tractors (semi-trucks) and vocational vehicles such as refuse trucks and transit buses. Separate standards are required for gasoline-powered and diesel models.

These vehicles will be required to achieve approximately 15 percent reduction in fuel consumption by 2018. The standards are expected to result in long-term savings for vehicle owners.