California: Heavy-duty: Emissions

Overview

 * Standard type: Conventional pollutant emission limits
 * Regulating body: California Air Resources Board (CARB) within the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA)
 * Current standard: California's heavy-duty vehicle emission standards were harmonized with federal standards in 2004, with some differences in applicability limits
 * Applicability: Vehicles with gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) above 14,000 lbs

History
In 2004, federal emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles were harmonized with California standards, with the intent that manufacturers can use a single engine or machine design for both markets. However, California certifications for model years (MYs) 2005-2007 require additional SET testing beyond federal requirements, and NTE limits of 1.25 × FTP standards. California also adopted more stringent standards for MY 2004-2006 engines for public urban bus fleets.

Model Years 1987-2003
Model year 1987-2003 California emission standards for heavy-duty diesel truck and bus engines are summarized in the following table. Applicable to the 1994 and following year standards, sulfur content in the certification fuel was reduced to 500 ppm wt.

Useful Life and Warranty Periods - Compliance with emission standards has to be demonstrated over the useful life of the engine, which was adopted as follows (federal &amp; California):
 * LHDDE&mdash;8 years/110,000 miles (whichever occurs first)
 * MHDDE&mdash;8 years/185,000 miles
 * HHDDE&mdash;8 years/290,000 miles

Applicable federal standards - Federal useful life requirements were later increased to 10 years, with no change to the above mileage numbers, for the urban bus PM standard (1994+) and for the NOx standard (1998+). The emission warranty period is 5 years/100,000 miles (5 years/100,000 miles/3,000 hours in California), but no less than the basic mechanical warranty for the engine family.

Consent Decrees - In October 1998, a court settlement was reached between US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Justice, CARB, and engine manufacturers (Caterpillar, Cummins, Detroit Diesel, Volvo, Mack Trucks/Renault and Navistar) over the issue of high NOx emissions from heavy-duty diesel engines during certain driving modes. Since the early 1990’s, the manufacturers used engine control software that caused engines to switch to a more fuel efficient (but higher NOx) driving mode during steady highway cruising. EPA considered this engine control strategy an illegal “emission defeat device”.

Provisions of the Consent Decree included the following:
 * Civil penalties for engine manufacturers and requirements to allocate funds for pollution research
 * Upgrading existing engines to lower NOx emissions
 * Supplemental Emission Test (steady-state) with a limit equal to the FTP standard and NTE limits of 1.25 × FTP (with the exception of Navistar)
 * Meeting the 2004 emission standards by October 2002, 15 months ahead of time

Clean Fuel Fleet Program - Voluntary Clean Fuel Fleet (CFF) program was a federal standard that applied to 1998-2003 model year engines, both CI and SI, over 8,500 lbs GVWR. In addition to the CFF standard, vehicles must have met applicable conventional standards for other pollutants. Additional information can be found on the EPA website.

Model Years 2004 and later
On December 21, 2004, EPA signed emission standards for model year 2007 and later heavy-duty highway engines (CARB adopted virtually identical 2007 heavy-duty engine standards in October 2001). The rule includes emission standards and diesel fuel regulations.

For additional information on heavy-duty emissions, see the US Heavy-duty Emissions page.

Regulatory Documents
Official regulation: Title 13 Section 1956.8

Heavy-Duty Otto-Cycle (gasoline) Engines and Vehicles
 * 1987 through 2003
 * 2004 and Subsequent years

Heavy-Duty Diesel Engines and Vehicles
 * 1985 through 2003
 * 2004 and Subsequent years