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The University of Tennessee FutureTruck team has redesigned a MY2002 Ford Explorer to improve fuel efficiency, reduce regulated exhaust emissions, and decrease fuel-cycle greenhouse gas emissions. The design uses a specially modified V4 engine and 53kW electric motor in a post-transmission, parallel hybrid electric powertrain to achieve these goals. Analysis of this HEV powertrain performance using an unoptimized control algorithm predicts a 22 percent improvement in fuel economy while maintaining stock vehicle acceleration performance. Consumer acceptability of the vehicle has been enhanced through the implementation of telematics systems and other consumer oriented features. This combination of performance, efficiency, “greenness”, and advanced features make this vehicle design competitive in today's SUV market.

Alkali and alkaline earth metal impurities found in diesel fuels are potential poisons for diesel exhaust catalysts. Using an accelerated aging procedure, a set of production exhaust systems from a 2011 Ford F250 equipped with a 6.7L diesel engine have been aged to an equivalent of 150,000 miles of thermal aging and metal exposure. These exhaust systems included a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC), selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst, and diesel particulate filter (DPF). Four separate exhaust systems were aged, each with a different fuel: ULSD containing no measureable metals, B20 containing sodium, B20 containing potassium and B20 containing calcium. Metals levels were selected to simulate the maximum allowable levels in B100 according to the ASTM D6751 standard. Analysis of the aged catalysts included Federal Test Procedure emissions testing with the systems installed on a Ford F250 pickup, bench flow reactor testing of catalyst cores, and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA).