Roeth: Wrapping up and moving forward
Key takeaways
- NACFE’s Messy Middle data gives fleets a broader view of Class 8 powertrain choices.
- Operations, TCO, and emissions data can help fleets evaluate technologies for specific duty cycles.
- The findings put diesel, natural gas, hydrogen, and electric powertrains in context.
Back in the summer of 2024, NACFE decided to focus our next Run on Less on demonstrating all the evolving production Class 8 powertrain choices available to fleets in 2025. Thus was born Run on Less – Messy Middle.
Now here we are in August of 2026, and we have just published our sixth and final report from the Run. Our first report, Bringing Clarity to the Messy Middle, was published in January of 2026, just a few months after the Run ended in September of 2025. The report provides a blueprint of the various elements that make up the Run, including how and why the NACFE team decided to focus on the long-haul sector of the trucking industry and how the 13 fleets were selected.
In March of 2026, we published Terrain, Technology and Telematics: The Messy Middle Operations Report. This report covered operational factors, including detailed specs of each truck and operating characteristics. It focused on how speed, terrain, and elevation affected the freight efficiency of each truck that participated in the Run.
Forecasting the TCO of Powertrain Alternatives: The Messy Middle Cost Report was published in April of 2026 and was designed to guide fleet owners through the financial realities of transitioning to alternative powertrains by analyzing the TCO across four different powertrains.
In June, we released the Messy Middle Powertrain Service & Maintenance report, a guidebook for OEMs, fleets, drivers, dealerships, shops, and technicians on the breadth of complexity facing truck and trailer maintenance and service in the Messy Middle.
Earlier this month, we published From Source to Highway: The Messy Middle Emissions Report, which looked at transportation emissions including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and particulate matter of trucks operating with a variety of powertrains.
And a week ago, we published our final report on the Run, Data Confirms Initial Conclusions: The Messy Middle Final Findings. This report collated the major findings of other reports from the Run and also puts them in context with the myriad of factors influencing freight’s transition from older, less efficient, costly, and higher emission powertrains to the latest production technologies offered in diesel, natural gas, hydrogen, and electric powertrains.
So now, Run on Less – Messy Middle is officially complete. We have frozen the website data, but it is still available for you to view and download.
We learned a lot from this Run about Class 8 trucks operating in long-haul duty cycles. I particularly want to encourage you to look at three of the reports—the operations, TCO, and emissions reports—in concert with each other. Taken separately they each provide a great deal of information but viewed together they should give fleet managers a clear path for making decisions on which efficiency technologies are best suited for their operation.
And these three reports align with NACFE’s mission of helping fleets invest in cost-saving technologies that improve efficiency and reduce emissions. It’s nice when the work you do meshes perfectly with your organization’s goals.
We are very proud of the work we did for this Run and extremely grateful to all those who helped us make it a reality.
Believe it or not, we now need to plan for the next Run on Less in 2027. The NACFE staff and board have some ideas of what the next Run could focus on, but we would love to hear from you on what you think we should study in 2027.
About the Author
Michael Roeth
Executive Director
Michael Roeth is the executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency. He serves on the second National Academy of Sciences Committee on Technologies and Approaches for Reducing the Fuel Consumption of Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles and has held various positions with Navistar and Behr/Cummins.