Posted: 30 Sep 2015 08:54:12

The California Air Resources Board (ARB/Board) announces the

release of two draft documents: “Technology Assessment:  Lower

NOx Heavy-Duty Diesel Engines” and “Technology Assessment:  Low

Emission Natural Gas and Other Alternative Fuel Heavy-Duty

Engines”.

The draft technology assessments apply to Class 2b through Class

8 heavy-duty vehicles (gross vehicle weight of 8,501 pounds and

up).  They present comprehensive assessments of the current state

and projected technology development necessary to further reduce

oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions from on-road heavy-duty diesel

and natural gas engines over the next 5 to 15 years, and staff's

proposed next steps to support commercialization of these

technologies.

Sources of information used in the draft assessment included an

extensive list of published reports, research papers, and

documented conversations with technology experts.

The draft technology assessment can be viewed and downloaded from

the ARB’s technology and fuels assessment webpage at:

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/tech/tech.htm.

We encourage interested parties to submit comments on the draft

technology assessments through the technology and fuels

assessment web page for public comments at:

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/tech/techreport/comments.htm.  We

prefer to receive comments within 30 days of the posting of these

draft assessments, if possible. 

If you have questions regarding the draft technology assessment,

please contact the following:

Mr. Daniel Hawelti, Air Resources Engineer, at 626-450-6149, or

at Daniel.Hawelti@arb.ca.gov

Background:  California has made substantial progress in reducing

emissions from mobile sources, but further reductions are needed

to meet California’s air quality and climate goals.  These goals

include:

•Meeting 2023 and 2032 ambient ozone air quality standards, which

staff estimates will require a 90 percent reduction in NOx

emissions below the 2010 baseline emission inventory in the South

Coast air basin, with substantial reductions needed in the San

Joaquin Valley and other non-attainment areas of the state as

well;

•Meeting the newly proposed federal ozone standard, which staff

estimates will be even more challenging to attain than the 2032

standard;

•Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)  emissions to 1990 levels by 2020;

•Achieve a 40 percent reduction in GHG emissions from 1990 levels

by 2030;

•Achieving an 80 percent reduction in GHG emissions from 1990

levels by 2050;

•Reduce petroleum use in cars and trucks by up to 50 percent by

2030; and

•Produce at least 50 percent of electricity from renewable

sources by 2030. 

To meet these goals, a long-term transformation of the mobile

source fleet into one utilizing zero and near-zero emission

technologies is needed. Heavy-duty vehicles greater than 8,500

pounds emit about a fifth of the total GHG emissions associated

with transportation sources in the State, which is about eight

percent of the statewide total.  In addition, these vehicles

account for 33% of NOx emissions from all statewide sources.

Because trucking emissions are such a significant source of GHG

and criteria pollutant emissions, achieving reductions within the

trucking sector is a key component in the strategy to meet

California’s climate and air quality goals.

The technology assessments were prepared by staff from ARB, along

with the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD)

staff.  They were discussed at workshops in September 2014 and at

the December 2014 ARB board meeting.  More information on the

assessments is available at ARB’s website at

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/tech/tech.htm.  An overview of the

technology assessments was released in April 2014 and is

available on ARB’s website at

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/tech/report.htm.