Hauling Industry News
Analysis shows diesel remains dominant, CARB regs have limited uptake of cleanest tech
Story by Todd Dills / www.overdriveonline.com
New research released by the Diesel Technology Forum (DTF) shows the continued dominance of diesel power among commercial vehicles operating today on American roads. Three fourths of all commercial vehicles registered in the United States are powered by the fuel.
A state-by-state and regional analysis, too, shows some evidence that California’s in-use Truck & Bus Rule’s rolling deadlines have created what DTF executive director Allen Schaeffer dubs something of a “perverse incentive” not to upgrade to current technology, ever increasing in efficiency and thus emitting less and less volume of greenhouse gases and other emissions, such as the particulates and nitrogen oxides that once were a big part of diesel exhaust.
No more. Beginning with engines’ 2010 model year, diesels have been equipped with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) and particulate control technologies. These combine to achieve U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions requirements for NOx emissions of no more than 0.20 grams per brake horsepower hour. This is in addition to particulate emissions requirements of no more than 0.01 g/BHP-hr.