Originally published at: EPA Holds Firm on 2027 NOx Rule – What Small Carriers Need to Know Before the Market Shifts - FreightWaves
For months, the trucking industry has been waiting to see whether EPA would bend, pause, or extend the 2027 NOx emissions deadline. Industry groups filed petitions. Manufacturers warned about rushed timelines. Trucking associations argued the rollout was too fast and too expensive. But none of it moved the agency. EPA said no. The deadline remains.…
A couple of thoughts:
Today’s trucks already meet 2027 standards ‘when they are hot’ or running hard on the freeway. It’s the slower operation and idling where the engineers never bothered to calibrate because their management argued the rules didn’t require emissions control so stop wasting development cost to program it. That intentional ignoring led to gunked up filters and the stationary and active regens and a host of other things. Requiring a ‘key on to key off’ complete strategy with basically the same physical components should drive improvement in our experience. More operation hot enough to dose DEF should also prevent goo from condensing in the filter and catalysts as a byproduct.
The change in DEF usage is minimal because it’s mostly driven by the amount of work being done—putsing around town? Not much work/not much DEF. The work happens when you punch through the air at 60 or 70mph for hours.
Second the ‘gummit was just as concerned about robustness and durability and reliability as expressed above: that’s why they pushed Warranties from piddly 100k to 450k and the design lifetime Regulatory Useful Life from 435k miles to 650k. Put the responsibility onto the entity that controls whether to chrome plate that valve needle or buy the military specification electrical connectors or else be on the ■■■■ if their cheapest supplier sensors prematurely fail. But this financial responsibility and regulatory teeth are exactly what ATA and the manufactures have apparently successfully stripped from the regulation. Congratulations.
Bottom line, using the same parts but with better software and maybe a startup boosting electric heater or two isn’t the revolution of new technologies that DPFs or subsequent SCR/DEF systems were when appearing on formerly straight piped engines in 2007/2010. Or you can do what Scania and International Motors are doing today with inserting a little SCR system right up against the engine heat in front of what today’s aftertreatment—that solution has been on the market for years.
Here’s to the future success of both the engineers and our end user ability to absorb this bump in the road. Oh, and the new engines are required to be more fuel efficient, so they can’t just “Dump Fuel” to solve their emission requirements—in fact they have to deliver fuel savings while doing continuously what they’d already done occasionally today. Well, when the already designed designs were designed there was that lower fuel consumption requirement—so that’s what we’re getting in 2027. The anti regulation push has successfully managed to send our better fuel economy/diesel burn requirements packing so all bets off on the next refresh. Again, Congratulations.
#fingerscrossed