International Council on Clean Transportation

Featured

EPA guidance on SCR: ICCT comments

Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) is the dominant technology used to meet nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions standards for heavy-duty diesel vehicles in the United States, Europe, and Japan. In developing markets such as China and India, which are planning to implement Euro IV standards, SCR is also manufacturers’ preferred technology option. It allows for NOx control with little or no fuel-economy penalty, and can permit manufacturers to continue marketing the same engine/aftertreatment combination even as emission standards become tighter over time.

NOx emissions by mean speed and test cycle for MY 2008 SCR-equipped Japanese truck.

But SCR poses unique implementation challenges stemming from its reliance on a reducing agent (typically aqueous urea, though others can be used), which is injected into the exhaust gas upstream of the catalyst, and which must periodically be replenished. SCR requires an extensive urea delivery infrastructure for geographically dispersed mobile sources and robust failsafes to ensure that drivers properly fill onboard urea tanks. Under certain circumstances SCR-equipped vehicles in use may also pose problems with off-cycle and unregulated emissions due to the temperature dependence of catalytic activity, improper urea dosing, catalyst poisoning, and the formation of catalytic byproducts. Read more

Revising vehicle efficiency standards

Speed kills, goes the cliché. So does weight—kills fuel economy, that is, and most other important measures of vehicle performance. As Henry Ford himself said in 1924, “Excess weight kills any self-propelled vehicle. . . . Weight may be desirable in a steam roller, but nowhere else.” Designing heavier vehicles is a bad idea.

Historical change in vehicle composition

Ironically, it is the United States that has traditionally failed to heed Ford’s commonsense advice, from the days of tail fins and chrome to the SUV era, while the rest of the world has benefited from it. Read more

Global passenger vehicle fuel economy and GHG emissions standards: April 2010 update

•Passenger Vehicle GHG and FE Standards: A Global Update [PDF]
• April 2010 update [PDF]
• Datasheet of global passenger vehicle FE/GHG regulations [.xlsx]
• Test cycle conversion tool [.xlsx]
• Charts [Download .ppt file]

The ICCT developed a methodology in its 2007 report to normalize the different driving test cycles adopted worldwide to allow apples-to-apples comparison of the global standards. The following is an update of the current status of these standards in various countries. Read more

Filed under: Fuel economy | GHG standards | Passenger vehicles

Notes and documents from a recent Mexico City workshop on the climate and energy security benefits of fuel economy standards.

Recently released

Attribute-based efficiency standards

This paper summarizes differences between size-based and mass-based standards and discusses their relative advantages and disadvantages. The authors argue for a reconsideration of the mass-based regulatory framework where it is in use and against its extension into as-yet-unregulated light-duty vehicle

CNG Bus Emissions Roadmap

The availability and low cost of natural gas, less stringent new engine emissions standards, and fuel sulfur levels that inhibit the use of the most advanced diesel engines all contribute to a continued high level of interest in CNG vehicles

Feebate best practices

Summarizes one of the most promising fiscal policy tools available to complement vehicle emissions standards: so-called feebate programs, in which more efficient vehicles receive rebates and less efficient vehicles are assessed fees.

Lightweight future

A new study by Lotus Engineering finds that, using existing or soon-to-be-available mainstream engineering techniques, automakers can reduce passenger-vehicle mass by one third in exchange for a 3% increase in component costs.