Federal Freight Efficiency Authority

The report proposes the creation of the Federal Freight Efficiency Authority (FFEA), a U.S. government agency designed to reduce oil dependence by improving the fuel efficiency of Class-8 heavy-duty trucks. The FFEA would provide default risk insurance on lease payments for independent owner-operators and small fleets, enabling them to transition from inefficient used trucks to new, high-efficiency vehicles.

• Class-8 trucks (GVWR 33,001-80,000 lbs) are critical to U.S. logistics, transporting 69% of domestic freight and consuming 11-12% of the nation's oil. These vehicles are projected to travel 62.4% more miles over the next twenty years.
• Independent owner-operators and small fleets (six vehicles or fewer) account for 87% of total Class-8 truck fuel use, consuming approximately 21 billion gallons annually. A 32% reduction in fuel use by this segment would result in a 2.5% reduction in total U.S. oil consumption.
• There is a significant gap between the potential efficiency of Class-8 trucks and current usage; diesel fuel efficiency could be raised from 5.63 to 11.31 mpg at minimal cost. However, independent operators often cannot afford new vehicles, which can cost almost three times as much as used counterparts, and they frequently lack the credit scores to secure low-interest loans.
• The proposed Federal Freight Efficiency Authority (FFEA) would operate within the Department of Transportation to insure the principal of lease payments for truckers purchasing new, efficient Class-8 trucks. This model, similar to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), aims to incentivize OEMs to produce more efficient vehicles and increase trucker profit margins.
• The FFEA is designed to be self-funded through insurance premiums (estimated at 0.5% on the declining balance) and investments in securities. Excess revenue could be directed to the Highway Trust Fund to offset the loss in fuel tax collections resulting from increased efficiency.
• The report suggests that the FFEA could integrate with the GSA's SmartPay program to use fleet cards to track fuel savings and ensure lease payments are met, thereby reducing default risk and protecting drivers from fuel price volatility.
• To address the potential oversupply of older vehicles caused by a shift to new trucks, the report suggests that OEMs implement scrappage programs tied to new purchases, citing a similar model used by Ford of Canada in May 2010.

APA

Shpitsberg, A. (2010). Federal Freight Efficiency Authority. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2010-28_FederalFreightEfficiencyAuthority.pdf

Chicago

Shpitsberg, Anna. Federal Freight Efficiency Authority. RMI, 2010. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2010-28_FederalFreightEfficiencyAuthority.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Shpitsberg |first1=Anna |title=Federal Freight Efficiency Authority |publisher=RMI |date=2010 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2010-28_FederalFreightEfficiencyAuthority.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{shpitsberg2010federal, author = {Shpitsberg, Anna}, title = {{Federal Freight Efficiency Authority}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2010}, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2010-28_FederalFreightEfficiencyAuthority.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }