Cummins Inc. supported new greenhouse gas and fuel-efficiency standards for heavy-duty and medium-duty commercial vehicles and engines during testimony in November at a Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) public hearing in Chicago.
On Oct. 25 EPA and NHTSA officials proposed rules to establish a comprehensive Heavy-Duty National Program, which from 2014 to 2018 would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase fuel efficiency for on-road heavy-duty engines and vehicles.
Testifying on behalf of Cummins in Chicago was Dr. Stephen J. Charlton, a company vice president and chief technical officer for engines. “We support the time line laid out by President Barack Obama to finalize this rule by July 30, 2011, and deliver improvements over the 2014-to-2018 time frame,” he said. “The rule and these benefits can be delivered in this short time frame because many of the building blocks already exist.”
Under the Clean Air Act, heavy-duty diesel engine emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) have been reduced by 99 percent. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has fostered public-private partnerships to develop the heavy-duty technologies needed to meet stringent emissions standards and improve efficiency.
“Cummins’ partnership with the DOE over the past 20 years has allowed us to bring evolutionary and breakthrough engine technologies to the market faster and at a lower cost than we could have done going it alone,” Charlton said.
The company’s selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology reduces NOx to the near-zero levels and its 2010 heavy-duty and midrange engines deliver up to 6 percent improved fuel efficiency compared with previous models.
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