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As GHG and fuel economy regulations of light-duty vehicles have become more stringent, advanced emissions reduction technology has extensively penetrated the US light-duty vehicle fleet. This new technology includes not only advanced conventional engines and transmissions, but also greater adoption of electrified powertrains. In 2022, electrified vehicles – including mild hybrids, strong hybrids, plug-ins, and battery electric vehicles – made up nearly 17% of the US fleet and are on track to further increase their proportion in subsequent years. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has previously used its Advanced Light-Duty Powertrain and Hybrid Analysis (ALPHA) full vehicle simulation tool to evaluate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of light-duty vehicles. ALPHA contains a library of benchmarked powertrain components that can be matched to specific vehicles to explore GHG emissions performance.

A gasoline’s distillation profile is directly related to its hydrocarbon composition and the volatility (boiling points) of those hydrocarbons. Generally, the volatility profiles of U.S. market fuels are characterized using a very simple, low theoretical plate distillation separation, detailed in the ASTM D86 test method. Because of the physical chemistry properties of some compounds in gasoline, this simple still or retort distillation has some limitations: separating azeotropes, isomers, and heavier hydrocarbons. Chemists generally rely on chromatographic separations when more detailed and precise results are needed. High-boiling aromatic compounds are the primary source of particulate emissions from spark ignited (SI), internal combustion engines (ICE), hence a detailed understanding and high-resolution separation of these heavy compounds is needed.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in partnership with Research Triangle Institute (RTI International) and Auto Research Center (ARC-Indy), have created digital geometries of commercially available heavy-duty tractor-trailers. The goal of this effort was to improve the agency’s understanding of aerodynamic modeling of modern trucks and to provide opportunities for more consistent engagement on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses. Sleeper and day cab tractors with aerodynamic features and a 53-foot box trailer with aerodynamic technology options were scanned to create high-resolution geometries. The scanning process consisted of a combination of physical scanning with a handheld device, along with digital post-processing. The completed truck geometries are compatible with most commercial CFD software and are publicly available for modeling and analyses.

Chassis dynamometer tests were conducted on three Class III on-highway motorcycles produced for the North American market and equipped with advanced emission control technologies in order to inform emissions inventories and compare the impacts of existing Tier 2 (E0) fuel with more market representative Tier 3 and LEV III certification fuels with 10% ethanol. For this study, the motorcycles were tested over the US Federal Test Procedure (FTP) and the World Motorcycle Test Cycle (WMTC) certification test cycles as well as a sample of real-world motorcycle driving informally referred to as the Real World Driving Cycle (RWDC). The primary interest was to understand the emissions changes of the selected motorcycles with the use of certification fuels containing 10% ethanol compared to 0% ethanol over the three test cycles.

In light-duty vehicles, there is a fundamental trade-off between fuel consumption and acceleration performance, if other vehicle attributes are held fixed. Earlier econometric studies have estimated the magnitude of this trade-off - the elasticity of fuel consumption with respect to performance - based on historical vehicle data. The majority of these studies assume, a priori, that elasticity is constant across the model year, vehicle power, and technology content. However, there is evidence that the content in the underlying powertrain technology packages is shifting in a way that reduces the value of the elasticity of fuel consumption with respect to performance, such that historical trends would not predict future behavior. This paper presents an alternative strategy for studying vehicle fuel consumption versus performance trade-off.

With ongoing concerns about the elevated levels of ambient air pollution in urban areas and the contribution from heavy-duty diesel vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles are considered as a potential solution as they are perceived to be more fuel efficient and less polluting than their conventional engine counterparts. However, recent studies have shown that real-world emissions may be substantially higher than those measured in the laboratory, mainly due to operating conditions that are not fully accounted for in dynamometer test cycles. At the U.S. EPA National Fuel and Vehicle Emissions Laboratory (NVFEL) the in-use criteria emissions and energy efficiency of heavy-duty class 8 vehicles (up to 36280 kg) can be evaluated under controlled conditions in the heavy-duty chassis dynamometer test.

Motor vehicle emission testing during on-road driving is important to assess a vehicle’s exhaust emission control design, its compliance with Federal regulations and its impact on air quality. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been developing new approaches to screen the characteristics of vehicle dynamic emission control behaviors (its operating signature) while driving both on-road and on-dynamometer. The so-called “signature device” used for this testing is equipped with an O2/NOx sensor, thermocouple and GPS to record dynamic exhaust NOx concentration, air fuel ratio-controlled tailpipe lambda (λ), tailpipe temperature and vehicle speed (acceleration). In the early EPA research, signature screening was used to characterize a vehicle’s PCM control behaviors (cause/effect bijectivity), which help distinguish operation in normal control state-space and abnormal state-space.

Chassis dynamometer testing was conducted with three on-highway motorcycles produced for the North American market with engine displacements of 296 cc, 749 cc and 1198 cc to better inform criteria pollutant emissions inventories. The motorcycles were tested using US Tier 2 certification fuel over the Federal Test Procedure (FTP), World Motorcycle Test Cycle (WMTC) and a cycle based on a sample of real-world motorcycle driving, informally referred to as the ‘Real World Driving Cycle’ (RWDC). Emissions characterization includes composite, individual test phase and 1Hz cumulative results for various criteria pollutants for each test cycle. Overall, it was found that the higher peak speed rates and peak torque levels observed during the RWDC are more fully represented in the WMTC than the FTP. The use of the WMTC and RWDC cycles generally translated into higher emissions rates compared to the FTP and in particular for nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide.

As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) continuing assessment of advanced light-duty automotive technologies in support of regulatory and compliance programs, the National Vehicle Fuels and Emissions Laboratory has benchmarked multiple transmissions to determine their efficiency during operation. The benchmarking included a modified “coastdown test,” which measures transmission output drag as a function of speed while in neutral. The transmission drag data can be represented as a second-order expression, like that used for vehicle coastdown test results, as F0 + F1V + F2V2, where V is the vehicle velocity. When represented in this fashion, the relationships among the three coefficients were found to be highly predictable. The magnitude of these coefficients can be quite large, and for some tested transmissions the deviation between the quadratic regression and the measured drag at individual velocities can be significant.

As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) continuing assessment of advanced light-duty automotive technologies in support of regulatory and compliance programs, a 2018 Toyota Camry A25A-FKS 4-cylinder, 2.5-liter, naturally aspirated, Atkinson Cycle engine with cooled exhaust gas recirculation (cEGR) was benchmarked. The engine was tested on an engine dynamometer with and without its 8-speed automatic transmission, and with the engine wiring harness tethered to a complete vehicle parked outside of the test cell. Engine and transmission torque, fuel flow, key engine temperatures and pressures, onboard diagnostics (OBD) data, and Controller Area Network (CAN) bus data were recorded. This paper documents the test results under idle, low, medium, and high load engine operation. Motoring torque, wide open throttle (WOT) torque and fuel consumption are measured during transient operation using both EPA Tier 2 and Tier 3 test fuels.

The thermal efficiency benefits of low-pressure (LP) exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) in spark-ignition engine combustion are well known. One of the greatest barriers facing adoption of LP-EGR for high power-density applications is the challenge of boosting. Variable nozzle turbines (VNTs) have recently been developed for gasoline applications operating at high exhaust gas temperatures (EGTs). The use of a single VNT as a boost device may provide a lower-cost option compared to two-stage boosting systems or 48 V electronic boost devices for some LP-EGR applications. A predictive model was created based on engine testing results from a 1.6 L turbocharged gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine [1]. The model was tuned so that it predicted burn-rates and end-gas knock over an engine operating map with varying speeds, loads, EGR rates and fuel types.

By almost any definition, technology has penetrated the U.S. light-duty vehicle fleet significantly in conjunction with the increased stringency of fuel economy and GHG emissions regulations. The physical presence of advanced technology components provides one indication of the efforts taken to reduce emissions, but that alone does not provide a complete measure of the benefits of a particular technology application. Differences in the design of components, the materials used, the presence of other technologies, and the calibration of controls can impact the performance of technologies in any particular implementation. The effectiveness of a technology for reducing emissions will also be influenced by the extent to which the technologies are applied towards changes in vehicle operating characteristics such as improved acceleration, or customer features that may offset mass reduction from the use of lightweight materials.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has collected a variety of engine and vehicle test data to assess the effectiveness of new automotive technologies in meeting greenhouse gas (GHG) and criteria emission standards and to monitor their behavior in real world operation. EPA’s Advanced Light-Duty Powertrain and Hybrid Analysis (ALPHA) tool was created to estimate GHG emissions from vehicles using various combinations of advanced technologies and has been refined using data from testing conducted at EPA’s National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory. This paper describes a process for constructing complete engine maps using engine dynamometer and in-vehicle test data for use in ALPHA or any other full vehicle simulation which performs similar analyses. The paper reviews how to use available steady state and transient test data to characterize different operating conditions, and then combine the data to construct a complete engine map suitable for ALPHA model simulation.

Low-pressure loop exhaust gas recirculation (LP- EGR) combined with higher compression ratio, is a technology package that has been a focus of research to increase engine thermal efficiency of downsized, turbocharged gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines. Research shows that the addition of LP-EGR reduces the propensity to knock that is experienced at higher compression ratios [1]. To investigate the interaction and compatibility between increased compression ratio and LP-EGR, a 1.6 L Turbocharged GDI engine was modified to run with LP-EGR at a higher compression ratio (12:1 versus 10.5:1) via a piston change. This paper presents the results of the baseline testing on an engine run with a prototype controller and initially tuned to mimic an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) baseline control strategy running on premium fuel (92.8 anti-knock index).

EPA has been benchmarking engines and transmissions to generate inputs for use in its technology assessments supporting the Midterm Evaluation of EPA’s 2017-2025 Light-Duty Vehicle greenhouse gas emissions assessments. As part of an Atkinson cycle engine technology assessment of applications in light-duty vehicles, cooled external exhaust gas recirculation (cEGR) and cylinder deactivation (CDA) were evaluated. The base engine was a production gasoline 2.0L four-cylinder engine with 75 degrees of intake cam phase authority and a 14:1 geometric compression ratio. An open ECU and cEGR hardware were installed on the engine so that the CO2 reduction effectiveness could be evaluated. Additionally, two cylinders were deactivated to determine what CO2 benefits could be achieved. Once a steady state calibration was complete, two-cycle (FTP and HwFET) CO2 reduction estimates were made using fuel weighted operating modes and a full vehicle model (ALPHA) cycle simulation.

As part of the Midterm Evaluation of the 2017-2025 Light-duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Standards, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed simulation models for studying the effectiveness of stop-start technology for reducing CO2 emissions from light-duty vehicles. Stop-start technology is widespread in Europe due to high fuel prices and due to stringent EU CO2 emissions standards beginning in 2012. Stop-start has recently appeared as a standard equipment option on high-volume vehicles like the Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Fusion, Chrysler 200, Jeep Cherokee, and Ram 1500 truck. EPA has included stop-start technology in its assessment of CO2-reducing technologies available for compliance with the standards. Simulation and modeling of this technology requires a suitable model of the battery. The introduction of stop-start has stimulated development of 12-volt battery systems capable of providing the enhanced performance and cycle life durability that it requires.

Commercial, class-8 tractor-trailers were tested to develop a relationship between vehicle speed and fuel savings associated with trailer aerodynamic technologies representative of typical long-haul freight applications. This research seeks to address a concern that many long-distance U.S. freight companies hold that, as vehicle speed is reduced, the fuel savings benefits of aerodynamic technologies are not realized. In this paper, the reductions in fuel consumption were measured using the SAE J1231 test method and thru-engine fueling rates recorded from the vehicle’s electronic data stream. Constant speed testing was conducted on road at different speeds and corresponding testing was conducted on track to confirm results. Data was collected at four (4) vehicle speeds: 35, 45, 55, and 62 miles per hour. Two different trailer aerodynamic configurations were evaluated relative to a baseline tractor trailer.

With increasingly stringent light duty particulate emissions regulations, it is of great interest to better understand particulate matter formation. Helping to build the knowledge base for a thorough understanding of particulate matter formation will be an essential step in developing effective control strategies. It is especially important to do this in such a way as to emulate real driving behaviors, including cold starts and transients. To this end, this study examined particulate emissions during transient operation in a recent model year vehicle equipped with a GDI engine. Three of the major federal test cycles were selected as evaluation schemes: the FTP, the HWFET, and the US06. These cycles capture much of the driving behaviors likely to be observed in typical driving scenarios. Measurements included particle size distributions from a TSI EEPS fast-response particle spectrometer, as well as real-time soot emissions from an AVL MSS soot sensor.

As part of its technology assessment for the upcoming midterm evaluation (MTE) of the 2022-2025 Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas (LD GHG) emissions standards, EPA has been benchmarking engines and transmissions to generate inputs for use in its Advanced Light-Duty Powertrain and Hybrid Analysis (ALPHA) model, a physics-based, forward-looking, full vehicle computer simulation tool. One of the most efficient engines today, a 2.0L Mazda SkyActiv engine, is of particular interest due to its high geometric compression ratio and use of an Atkinson cycle. EPA benchmarked the 2.0L SkyActiv at its National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions laboratory. EPA then incorporated ALPHA into an engine dynamometer control system so that vehicle chassis testing could be simulated with a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) approach.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Advanced Light-Duty Powertrain and Hybrid Analysis (ALPHA) tool was created to estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from light-duty vehicles[1]. ALPHA is a physics-based, forward-looking, full vehicle computer simulation capable of analyzing various vehicle types with different powertrain technologies, showing realistic vehicle behavior, and auditing of all internal energy flows in the model. The software tool is a MATLAB/Simulink based desktop application. In preparation for the midterm evaluation of the light-duty GHG emission standards for model years 2022-2025, EPA is refining and revalidating ALPHA using newly acquired data from model year 2013-2015 engines and vehicles.