truck emissions

How the Bus and Truck Regulation Affects Your Fleet (Part I of II)

As of December 12th, 2008, the California Air Resources Board passed the bus and truck regulation which would help to reduce what is known as “particulate matter”, or PM, as well as oxides of nitrogen emissions that presently exist in diesel vehicles in California. As this is an issue that directly applies to moving fleets, we will be breaking this information into a two-part segment that will cover every aspect that you need to be aware of.

Any diesel vehicle that operates with a gross weight rating of 14,000 lbs. (and over), is affected by this regulation, that includes trucks and buses that are both privately or federally owned. While other trucks, such as Waste Management Collection Trucks and transit buses, already are set under a different set of specific regulations and are in turn segregated from this bus and truck regulation. Trucks that transport marine containers are segregated as well, as they must comply with shipping and logistics truck regulations.

Heavier trucks and buses (grossing weights of over 26,000 lbs.) will additionally have two separate ways to comply. Fleets must comply with a compliance schedule based on the year of their engine model or the more flexible form of using a phase-in option. Beginning January 1st, 2012, heavier trucks must comply with the Engine Model Year Schedule shown as follows:

 

Engine Year

Requirements as of 1/1/2012

Pre-1994

No Requirements Until 2015, then 2010 engine

1994-1995

No Requirements Until 2016, then 2010 engine

1996-1999

PM Filter from 2012-2020, then 2010 engine

2000-2004

PM Filter from 2013-2021, then 2010 engine

2005-2006

PM Filter from 2014-2022, then 2010 engine

2007-2009

No Requirements Until 2023, then 2010 engine

2010

Meets Final Requirements

 

By 2023, all buses and trucks must have a engine model year of 2010+, with few exceptions. Additionally, the phase-in option for heavier trucks is also available which allows fleets to determine which vehicles must be replaced or retrofitted, not based on the engine model year. The information must have been reported as of January 31st, 2012. The phase-in option for heavier trucks is as follows:

 

Compliance Date

Vehicles with PM Filters

January 1st, 2012

30%

January 1st. 2013

60%

January 1st. 2014

90%

January 1st. 2015

90%

January 1st. 2016

100%

 

In Part II of this segment, we will be discussing several additional pieces of information that you will be needing to stay up-to-date on these new regulations that are being enforced which in turn directly affect your fleet.