EPA Rule Sets Strict Limits on Heavy-Duty Vehicle Emissions

Expect to pay more for trucks and engines beginning with model year 2027, owing to new emission standards imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In a Dec. 20 final rule, the EPA set strict new standards for heavy-duty vehicles and engines, alongside more limited restrictions for new light-duty trucks. The standards — which the agency touted in a release as being 80 percent stronger than the current requirements — apply to manufacturers, testers and sellers of new equipment.

The main target of the rule is oxides of nitrogen (NOx), a class of pollutants that includes nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide. However, the agency specified that the rule will also reduce carbon monoxide output and hydrocarbons.

EPA’s rule is based, in part, on a proposed rule issued in February. However, while the proposed rule weighed two different options for the standards — one would be gradual and less stringent, while the other would be stricter and take place in a single step — the final rule goes the stricter-single step approach.

Outside of this, the final rule also requires manufacturers to beef up the emissions-related warranty periods for heavy-duty vehicles and engines.

Light-Duty

While the bulk of the document focuses on heavy-duty vehicles and engines, it also incorporates a slew of technical amendments for emissions controls on light-duty vehicles, light-duty trucks, marine diesel engines and others.

These concentrate on Class 1 and Class 2 vehicles, while the rule notes that Class 2b and Class 3 vehicles will be covered “in a future combined light-duty and medium-duty rulemaking action.”

The rule, which is part of the agency’s Clean Trucks Plan for reducing air pollution, applies to all vehicles and engines designated as model year 2027 or later. It takes effects 60 days from publication.

The stricter standards are expected to prove costly, with annual total costs to the industry of $3.9 billion in 2027, up to $4.7 billion by 2045. However, the agency says that the public health benefits will far outstrip these expenses, estimating that by 2040, NOx emissions from heavy-duty vehicles will fall 40 percent.

“Heavy-duty vehicles and engines are important contributors to concentrations of ozone and particulate matter and their resulting threat to public health, which includes premature death, respiratory illness (including childhood asthma), cardiovascular problems, and other adverse health impacts,” the agency stated in the rule.