SmartWay Truck Emissions Test Protocol

Recognizing that advancements in heavy duty vehicle technology offer opportunities for cleaner, more fuel-efficient medium and heavy-duty vehicles, EPA’s SmartWaySM Transport Partnership is collaborating with the transportation industry to develop a SmartWay Truck Emissions Test Protocol that better quantifies the benefits of various heavy vehicle designs and technologies. EPA seeks to create a test protocol to compare the relative emissions and fuel-efficiency of heavy-duty vehicles. However, without a standard, objective, stand-alone test method, it is difficult to develop a common understanding of how to assess criteria air pollutants, greenhouse gases, and fuel-efficiency of heavy-duty vehicles, including vehicles with hybrid powertrain, aerodynamic configuration, and other advanced vehicle designs and components.

Such information can assist the Agency in establishing performance-based eligibility criteria for the next generation of SmartWay trucks, and to quantify the benefits of hybrid vehicles for vehicle-based certification.

Such a standard methodology does not currently exist so EPA has developed this working draft SmartWay Truck Emissions Test Protocol (PDF) (76 pp, 900K, EPA-420-P-07-003, November 2007) as a starting point for discussion among stakeholders. This working draft is a first step toward a performance-based specification that would be technology-neutral, able to quantify a broad range of heavy vehicle configurations and applications, and able to measure technical innovations as they emerge. EPA is soliciting additional information and critical input to address areas of uncertainty and clarify outstanding issues.