What are the various vehicle weight classes and why do they matter?

Question of the Month: What are the various vehicle weight classes and why do they matter?

Answer: Which Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard applies to my vehicle? What are the state emissions testing requirements for my vehicle? Would a medium-duty vehicle qualify for the plug-in electric drive motor vehicle tax credit? To answer these questions and determine which laws, regulations, and incentives may apply to your vehicle or fleet, you must first understand the specifics of the vehicle weight classifications.


You may recall learning about federal agencies and vehicle classes from our February Question of the Month. However, each agency defines vehicle classes differently. So this month, we will dig deeper into the specific vehicle weight classes set by three federal agencies. This guide will help you identify a Class 1 vehicle to a Heavy-Duty Vehicle 8b, and everything in between.

U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)

The FHWA defines vehicles as Class 1 through 8, the most common categorization used in the fleet industry. The classes are based on a vehicle's gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), which is the maximum operating weight of the vehicle, measured in pounds (lbs.). GVWR is set by the manufacturer and includes the total vehicle weight plus fluids, passengers, and cargo. The FHWA's vehicle classes (listed below) are used in the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (e.g., as it relates to the National Highway Freight Program). The vehicle classes are also used by certain states to determine vehicle road and fuel taxes, access to roadways, and idle reduction and emissions reduction requirements.

• Light-Duty Vehicle: less than (<) 10,000 lbs.
  • Class 1: <6,000 lbs. Example vehicle: Sedan or sport-utility vehicle (SUV)
  • Class 2: 6,001 – 10,000 lbs. Example vehicle: Utility van
• Medium-Duty Vehicle: 10,001 – 26,000 lbs.
  • Class 3: 10,001 – 14,000 lbs. Example vehicle: Mini bus
  • Class 4: 14,001 – 16,000 lbs. Example vehicle: Step van
  • Class 5: 16,001 – 19,500 lbs. Example vehicle: Bucket truck
  • Class 6: 19,501 – 26,000 lbs. Example vehicle: School bus
• Heavy-Duty Vehicle: greater than (>) 26,000 lbs.
  • Class 7: 26,001 – 33,000 lbs. Example vehicle: City transit bus
  • Class 8: >33,000 lbs. Example vehicle: Dump truck

For more vehicle examples, see the Types of Vehicles by Weight Class chart.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

The EPA uses the following categories to certify vehicles based on emissions standards, in conjunction with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's CAFE standards to regulate fuel economy. The light-duty vehicle category is also used in Energy Policy Act vehicle acquisition requirements. Note that there is a distinction between vehicles and engines in the EPA's classification because there are separate emissions standards for each.

Passenger Vehicles

• Light-Duty Vehicle: <8,500 lbs.
• Medium-Duty Vehicle: 8,501 – 10,000 lbs.

Heavy-Duty Vehicles and Engines

• General Trucks
  • Light-Duty Trucks: <8,500 lbs.
  • Heavy-Duty Vehicle Heavy-Duty Engine: >8,500 lbs.
• Heavy-Duty Trucks
  • Light-Duty Truck 1 and 2: <6,000 lbs.
    • Split is based on loaded vehicle weight (LVW), where:
      • Light-Duty Truck 1: <3,750 lbs. LVW
      • Light-Duty Truck 2: 3,751 – 6,000 lbs. LVW
  • Light-Duty Truck 3 and 4: 6,001 – 8,500 lbs.
    • Split is based on adjusted loaded vehicle weight (ALVW, the average of the GVWR and the curb weight, which is the weight of the vehicle without passengers or cargo), where:
      • Light-Duty Truck 3: <5,750 lbs. ALVW
      • Light-Duty Truck 4: >5,750 lbs. adjusted ALVW
  • Heavy-Duty Vehicle 2b: 8,501 – 10,000 lbs.
  • Heavy-Duty Vehicle 3: 10,001 – 14,000 lbs.
  • Heavy-Duty Vehicle 4: 14,001 – 16,000 lbs.
  • Heavy-Duty Vehicle 5: 16,001 – 19,500 lbs.
  • Heavy-Duty Vehicle 6: 19,501 – 26,000 lbs.
  • Heavy-Duty Vehicle 7: 26,001 – 33,000 lbs.
  • Heavy-Duty Vehicle 8a: 33,001 – 60,000 lbs.
  • Heavy-Duty Vehicle 8b: >60,000 lbs.
• Heavy-Duty Engines
  • Light Light-Duty Truck: <6,000 lbs.
  • Heavy Light-Duty Truck: 6,001 – 8,500 lbs.
  • Light Heavy-Duty Engine: 8,501 – 19,500 lbs.
  • Medium Heavy-Duty Engine: 19,501 – 33,000 lbs.
  • Heavy Heavy-Duty Engine Urban Bus: >33,000 lbs.

U.S. Census Bureau

The U.S. Census Bureau uses the following Vehicle Inventory and Use Survey classes to measure how many private and commercial trucks operate within the United States.

• Light-Duty Vehicle: <10,000 lbs.
  
  
• Medium-Duty Vehicle: 10,000 – 19,500 lbs.
  
  
• Light Heavy-Duty Vehicle: 19,001 – 26,000 lbs.
  
  
• Heavy-Duty Vehicle: >26,000 lbs.

States are not consistent, as some use one of the classifications above and others develop their own classifications for various state laws, regulations, and incentives related to vehicles. Be sure to check your state legislation and program guidance to determine which classifications apply. For example, the California Air Resources Board typically uses "heavy-duty" to describe vehicles with a GVWR greater than 14,000 lbs., which is referenced in the Mobile Source Emissions Reduction Requirements.


Looking for a more visual comparison of the various classifications? Check out the Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC) Vehicle Weight Classes and Categories chart.


Clean Cities Technical Response Service Team
technicalresponse@icfi.com
800-254-6735

"Let’s Make OPEC Irrelevant, Not Just Laughable"

From T. Boone Pickens:

Nearly 40 years ago, OPEC nations met and brought America to her knees overnight. Long gasoline lines. Gasoline prices skyrocketed. Crippling economic conditions. Nearly two generations have passed since then. That translates to 185 million Americans - more than half of all Americans - who have never experienced that hardship or challenge. But those of us who did will never forget it.

My, how times have changed. OPEC nations - and a few others - gathered in Doha, Qatar the other day to address the slide in oil prices that threaten their economic viability and their national security. Powerful gathering? Hardly. Laughable is more like it.

Led by the Saudi contingent, with their own resolution in hand, they met to approve a freeze on production at January levels. It would have been a meaningless gesture, but, still, the markets took note. Oil prices perked in advance of the confab in anticipation of "positive" news.

That gathering was as fractured as the Mid East itself. There was no agreement. It was a comical sideshow on the global energy stage that proves, yet again, just how irrelevant OPEC has become these days.

There are much more important issues playing out on that same energy stage that will move oil prices higher in the coming months. Consider these operational outages and challenges:

• U.S. rigs have fallen by 75 percent and 30 percent internationally. In the U.S. alone, that has led to a steeper and steeper decline of oil and natural gas production.
• We're closing in on 300,000 lost jobs in the energy space in America.
• We are witnessing production declines in China, Brazil, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Latin America, Europe and many other nations.
• As if this is not enough, in the last month, we have seen production outages in Kuwait, Iraq, Nigeria and Venezuela.

And then there's Russia. They have moved in and out of the Middle East, having been kicked out in the 1970s. They are back in now, and whether it's for "diplomacy" or control of oil supplies, they are a growing factor. And, know this: Russia has never been a nation that's fostered stability. Instability is more their game.

Thankfully, we're now a nation with options. Credit stunning advances in horizontal drilling and fracking that position us rich in energy resources. We're now the number one natural gas producer in the world, and in the top three for crude oil production.

America's potential energy future has never been brighter. But there's a challenge, and that's whether we - as a nation - are willing to learn a lesson we should have learned 40 years ago, and that's putting our own energy future in our own hands.

The best way to do that is to utilize free market principles and inject serious fuel competition in the transportation mix. Governments at all levels can and should lead the way. One way to start: Open their fleet vehicle and fuel purchasing to competing domestic fuels. Let the cleaner, cheaper, domestic option - and taxpayers - win. Let's make OPEC and those other oil-producing nations irrelevant.

It will take an energy plan. It's like planting a tree. The best time to plant one was 40 years ago. The second best time is today. Count on me to make that a key issue in the coming presidential election.

Rather than spending hour after hour feuding over delegate selection strategies in the Republican primaries, or the role of Super Delegates on the Democratic side, candidates for public office at all levels should be elbowing each other out of the way to present the best energy program for America.

Leif Wenar, Author of "Blood Oil"

In conversation with T. Boone Pickens.


"Blood Oil" by Leif Wenar on Amazon.

Fuels Fix, Spring 2016