EPA provides updates on emissions standards, SmartWay activities

From Transport Topics. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency expects to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking later this year aimed at establishing new emissions standards for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and other pollutants for highway heavy-duty engines, an EPA official told the S.11 study group of the Technology & Maintenance Council of American Trucking Associations…

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From Transport Topics.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency expects to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking later this year aimed at establishing new emissions standards for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and other pollutants for highway heavy-duty engines, an EPA official told the S.11 study group of the Technology & Maintenance Council of American Trucking Associations during TMC’s virtual spring meeting.

EPA announced an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on the subject Jan. 6, 2020, as part of its Cleaner Truck Initiative.

“The hope had been to get a NPRM out earlier this year. It appears the current timeline is later this year,” said Dennis Johnson, director of EPA’s Technology Assessment Center within its Transportation and Climate Division, during an April 15 session. “But we are planning on moving forward with that.”

A lot of the focus of the rulemaking is to not just lower the standards for NOx but also consider other things that need to be done, he said. For instance, there’s changing the engine and tractor certification process. Another example is how engines need to be tested and how the technologies need to perform under different types of operations, such as stop and go compared with long haul, where the temperature profiles are different.

California is talking about additional standards for heavy-duty trucks, too, Johnson said, and “EPA is doing this in collaboration with the California Air Resources Board.”

S.11’s meeting also included an update on EPA’s SmartWay activities including with tires, alternative fuels, trailer refrigeration units and modeling with computational fluid dynamics.

SmartWay is looking at fuel cells used in ports and potentially drayage trucks and longhaul trucking. A related white paper “is coming in the next couple of months,” that explains, among other information, the different types of fuel cells out there and the availability of hydrogen to power these fuel cells, Johnson said. “I would encourage you to take a look at it.”

See the complete article online at Transport Topics.

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