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21st Century Truck

The vision of the 21st Century Truck Partnership is that our nation's trucks and buses will safely and cost-effectively move larger volumes of freight and greater numbers of passengers while emitting little or no pollution and dramatically reducing the dependency on foreign oil. The Partnership addresses the following national imperatives:

  • Transportation in America supports the growth of our nation's economy both nationally and globally.
  • Our nation's transportation system supports the country's goal of energy security.
  • Transportation in our country is clean, safe, secure, and sustainable.
  • America's military has an agile, well-equipped, efficient force capable of rapid deployment and sustainment anywhere in the world.
  • Our nation's transportation system is compatible with a dedicated concern for the environment.

Partnership Activities

  • Develop and implement an integrated vehicle systems research and development (R&D) approach that validates and deploys advanced technology necessary for both commercial and military trucks and buses to meet the aforementioned national imperatives.
  • Promote research for engine, combustion, exhaust aftertreatment, fuels, and advanced materials to achieve both significantly higher efficiency and lower emissions.
  • Promote research focused on advanced heavy-duty hybrid propulsion systems that will reduce energy consumption and pollutant emissions.
  • Promote research to reduce parasitic losses to achieve significantly reduced energy consumption.
  • Promote the development of technologies to improve truck safety, resulting in the reduction of fatalities and injuries in truck-involved crashes.
  • Promote the development and deployment of technologies that substantially reduce energy consumption and exhaust emissions during idling.
  • Promote the validation, demonstration, and deployment of advanced truck and bus technologies, and grow their reliability sufficient for adoption in the commercial marketplace.

The Roadmap and Technical White Papers (PDF 1.7 MB) and Appendix of Supporting Information (PDF 4.0 MB) for the 21st Century Truck Technology Partnership provides an overview of the partnerships activities including roles and responsibilities, technical scope and objective, and interim milestones and timing. Download Adobe Reader.