See the Future at the Green Truck Summit 2011

The Green Truck Summit is jointly produced by the National Truck Equipment Association (NTEA) and CALSTART. It is held in conjunction with The Work Truck Show 2011 and 47th Annual NTEA Convention at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, IN. The Work Truck Show runs March 8-10, 2011, with educational programming beginning March 7.

Now in its fifth year, the Green Truck Summit is the leading educational conference on green technology for vocational trucks. It provides practical, real-world information on green vehicle funding and partnership opportunities, implementation of green fleet programs, carbon footprint and idle reduction techniques, hybrid chassis integration, fuel utilization improvements, and more. It also brings together industry leaders to provide a look into the future of commercial trucks.

“Our industry is in a very exciting period of evolution,” says Doyle Sumrall, NTEA senior director of business development. “As innovative manufacturers continue to develop new green technology, fleets and the businesses who support them must understand how and when to use that technology to improve their operations and environmental impact. The Green Truck Summit is a unique gathering of technical experts, thought leaders and peers who all share their knowledge to provide solutions for today’s issues, as well as guidance into the future.”

The Green Truck Summit includes 18 breakout sessions, six general sessions and two keynote addresses over a day and a half. During the first general session, “Moving Forward: Truck Technologies Leading Us to the Future,” John Boesel, president and CEO of CALSTART, and Jim Carney, NTEA executive director, share their vision of the work truck industry landscape of the future. They discuss current and upcoming trends in clean technologies which will improve fuel economy and reduce emissions for commercial vehicles. This session takes place at 9:00AM on Monday, March 7.

Representatives of Freightliner Trucks; Navistar, Inc.; and Eaton Corporation cover “Planning for 2016 Fuel Efficiency Regulations: An OEM and Supplier Discussion” at 10:15AM on Monday, March 7. They address how OEMs and suppliers plan to support the work truck industry in preparation for regulations being developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to require medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to meet specific fuel efficiency requirements starting in 2016.

Day two of the Green Truck Summit kicks off with a keynote address by Connie Burek, solutions specialist, heavy equipment & truck, International Business Machine, Inc. (Brimfield, IL) and Rob Stevens, chief engineer, Ford Commercial Truck (Dearborn, MI), as they provide “A Sneak Peek at the Trucks of the Future.” Burek and Stevens discuss the work truck of the future, including what it will look like and technologies that will lead to reductions in fuel use and emissions. This presentation takes place at 8:00AM on Tuesday, March 8.

The final general session of the Green Truck Summit 2011 is “Gaseous Fuels: What’s Working Now; What’s Coming Next,” at 10:15AM on Tuesday, March 8. Recognizing that gaseous fuels have the potential to reduce internal combustion engine emissions and the reliance on imported fuels, this session examines current and future gaseous fuels, addresses the benefits and shortcomings of each, and provides an overview of some of the real-world issues involved in transitioning a fleet to a gaseous fuel. The session is presented by Bill Burns, fleet operations manager, city of Columbus (Columbus, OH); Steve McConnell, lead fuels engineer, Center for Transportation Research, Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne, IL); and Marianne Mintz, transportation systems planner, Center for Transportation Research, Argonne National Laboratory.

A complete Green Truck Summit schedule is available online at www.ntea.com/greentrucksummit/about/.