Volvo, Mack Truck Models Get Greenhouse Gas Nod From EPA

This story appears in the Dec. 17 print edition of Transport Topics.

Volvo Trucks and Mack Trucks Inc. became the latest heavy-duty truck makers to announce their truck models meet 2014 federal greenhouse-gas regulations.

Also last week, Cummins Inc. told Transport Topics its entire line of truck engines had received EPA certification.

Volvo said the certification includes its VNL, VNM, VHD and Volvo Autohauler (VAH) models.

“Volvo is committed to leadership in fuel efficiency and to reducing the carbon footprint of our operations and products,” said Göran Nyberg, president of Volvo Trucks North American Sales and Marketing.

The greenhouse-gas rule was written by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to address the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by heavy- and medium-duty trucks. The August 2011 rule sets standards for emissions and mileage.

The greenhouse-gas rule sets standards for trucks and engines made from January 2014. The rule’s second-stage standards kick in as of 2017.

To achieve certification, Volvo Trucks said, it improved vehicle aerodynamics, including tweaking mirror heads, redesigned hood mirrors and more features below the bumper and side fairings.

“They’re giving us the leeway to be very good in some areas,” Frank Bio, Volvo’s product manager of trucks, said in a telephone interview from the company’s Greensboro, N.C., base. “The intent is to improve the overall trucking fleet rather than use dirty engines or things not aerodynamic.”

Likewise, Mack said its full lineup of model year 2014 trucks and tractors had been certified by EPA and NHTSA.

The company said the primary changes under the hood involved engine tuning or fuel map settings. Other changes were made in tire selection — a greater focus on low rolling-resistance tires — and aerodynamic options.

Volvo Trucks is a division of Volvo Group, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, that also owns Mack Trucks Inc.

Cummins, which said in October that its ISX15 engine had become the first engine to receive approval (10-8, p. 12), provided an update last week.

“Every single one of them from the ISX15 to the ISX12, ISL9 and the ISB6.7 is now certified,” Carol Lavengood, marketing and communications director for Cummins’ engine business, told TT.

To get the engines ready, Cummins made changes that would reduce parasitic losses.

“Around the water pump, fuel pump and oil ring, we made the hardware modifications that would improve the overall efficiency of the engine,” Lavengood said. “We expect about a 2% improvement in fuel efficiency.”

Daimler Trucks North America previously announced its Freightliner and Western Star trucks had earned certification and that it had filed for its Detroit brand engines.

Stephen Schrier, a spokesman for Navistar International Corp., Lisle, Ill., said last week the company previously received certification for some truck models, and “we continued to add additional vehicle certifications for our buses and certain other truck models in the fall. We will submit for certification of our engines in 2013.”

Paccar Inc., Bellevue, Wash., which makes Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks in the United States declined comment, other than directing TT to its third-quarter earnings report.

That statement said EPA had approved the company’s vocational vehicles in September.