Group, dealers team on retrofit trucks

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $5 million to the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) to help guarantee loans to buy retrofitted used tractor-trailers at Rush Truck Centers locations throughout the South.

Part of the EPA’s SmartWay Clean Diesel Finance Program, the award will go toward a program offering financing of up to 100 percent of the purchase or lease of a pre-2007 tractor-trailer retrofitted to conform with more current emissions standards or outfitted with idle-reduction technologies.

“We are thrilled to receive this important award and excited to kick off our ‘Clean Trucks Make Cents’ program,” said Anne Blair, program manager for SACE. “The financing will play an important role in … helping reduce emissions and improve air quality in the Southeast.”

The program is designed to help drivers and small businesses that might not qualify for such a loan but want to buy a more fuel-efficent truck. Rush Truck Centers locations in Nashville, Tenn.; Winter Garden, Fla.; and Tampa, Fla., will have retrofitted trucks in stock in early 2011. Buyers also may choose from Rush’s inventory of more than 800 used trucks throughout the country to be retrofitted with verified emissions and idle reduction systems.

“The ‘Clean Trucks Make Cents’ program is another way Rush Truck Centers can help support the EPA, SmartWay and SACE’s efforts to reduce emissions and improve air quality,” said W.M. “Rusty” Rush, president and CEO of Rush Enterprises. “We are happy to offer a cleaner, greener, economical option for Class 8 truck buyers.”

For more information, contact participating Rush locations or visit www.rushtruckcenters.com to search used truck inventory, beginning in January. Visit www.cleanenergy.org for information on SACE.