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As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) continuing assessment of advanced light-duty (LD) automotive technologies to support the setting of appropriate national greenhouse gas (GHG) standards and to evaluate the impact of new technologies on in-use emissions, a 2016 Honda Civic with a 4-cylinder 1.5-liter L15B7 turbocharged engine and continuously variable transmission (CVT) was benchmarked. The test method involved installing the engine and its CVT in an engine-dynamometer test cell with the engine wiring harness tethered to its vehicle parked outside the test cell. Engine and transmission torque, fuel flow, key engine temperatures and pressures, and onboard diagnostics (OBD)/Controller Area Network (CAN) bus data were recorded.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration, and the California Air Resources Board have recently released proposed new regulations for greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy for light-duty vehicles and trucks in model years 2017-2025. These proposed regulations intend to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase fleet fuel economy from current levels. At the fleet level, these rules the proposed regulations represent a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by new vehicles in 2025 compared to current fleet levels. At the same time, global growth, especially in developing economies, should continue to drive demand for crude oil and may lead to further fuel price increases. Both of these trends will therefore require light duty vehicles (LDV) to significantly improve their greenhouse gas emissions over the next 5-15 years to meet regulatory requirements and customer demand.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has completed a program to demonstrate the feasibility of using low-cost engine management systems and modern, high-efficiency exhaust catalysts for nonroad spark ignition gasoline Class II engines (sub-19 kW, greater than 225 cc). Low-cost electronic engine management and fuel injection systems originally developed for motor-scooter and small motorcycle applications were installed on two 500cc single-cylinder spark-ignition lawn-and-garden engines. Integrated catalyst-muffler systems were developed for both engines and fuel control was calibrated to achieve emission control goals while maintaining or improving fuel consumption, engine durability and performance. NOx+HC emissions were reduced approximately 75% and brake-specific fuel-consumption improved by 6 to 12%. .

While equivalent circuit modeling is an effective way to model the performance of automotive Li-ion batteries, in some applications it is more convenient to refer to round-trip energy efficiency. Energy efficiency of either cells or full packs is seldom documented by manufacturers in enough detail to provide an accurate impression of this metric over a range of operating conditions. The energy efficiency of a full battery pack may also be subject to more variables than would be represented by extrapolating results obtained from a single cell, and can be more demanding to measure in an accurate and consistent manner. Roundtrip energy efficiency of a 22.8-kWh A123 Li-ion (Lithium Iron Phosphate, LiFePO4) battery pack was measured by applying a fixed quantity of charge and discharge current between 0.2C and 2C rates and at SOCs between 10% and 90% at an average temperature of 23°C.

Exhaust emissions of seventeen 2,3,7,8-substituted chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin/furan (CDD/F) congeners, tetra-octa CDD/F homologues, twelve WHO 2005 chlorinated biphenyls (CB) congeners, mono-nona CB homologues, and nineteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from a model year 2008 Cummins ISB engine equipped with aftertreatment including a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) and wall flow copper or iron urea selective catalytic reduction filter (SCRF) were investigated. These systems differ from a traditional flow through urea selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst because they place copper or iron catalyst sites in close proximity to filter-trapped particulate matter. These conditions could favor de novo synthesis of dioxins and furans. The results were compared to previously published results of modern diesel engines equipped with a DOC, catalyzed diesel particulate filter (CDPF) and flow through urea SCR catalyst.

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).

The Advanced Light-Duty Powertrain and Hybrid Analysis tool (ALPHA) was created by EPA to evaluate the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions of Light-Duty (LD) vehicles. ALPHA is a physics-based, forward-looking, full vehicle computer simulator capable of analyzing various vehicle types combined with different powertrain technologies. The ALPHA desktop application was developed using MATLAB/Simulink. The ALPHA tool was used to evaluate technology effectiveness and off-cycle technologies such as air-conditioning, electrical load reduction technology and road load reduction technologies of conventional, non-hybrid vehicles for the Midterm Evaluation of the 2017-2025 LD GHG rule by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ).

The Advanced Light-Duty Powertrain and Hybrid Analysis (ALPHA) tool was created by EPA to evaluate the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions of Light-Duty (LD) vehicles. It is a physics-based, forward-looking, full vehicle computer simulator capable of analyzing various vehicle types combined with different powertrain technologies. The software tool is a freely-distributed, MATLAB/Simulink-based desktop application. Version 1.0 of the ALPHA tool was applicable only to conventional, non-hybrid vehicles and was used to evaluate off-cycle technology such as air-conditioning, electrical load reduction technology and road load reduction technologies for the 2017-2025 LD GHG and Fuel Economy rule. The next version of the ALPHA tool extends its modeling capabilities to include power-split and P2 parallel hybrid electric vehicles and their battery pack energy storage systems. Future versions of ALPHA will incorporate plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and electric vehicle (EV) architectures.

The Advanced Light-Duty Powertrain and Hybrid Analysis tool was created by EPA to evaluate the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions of Light-Duty (LD) vehicles. It is a physics-based, forward-looking, full vehicle computer simulator capable of analyzing various vehicle types combined with different powertrain technologies. The software tool is a freely-distributed, MATLAB/Simulink-based desktop application. Version 1.0 of the ALPHA tool was applicable only to conventional, non-hybrid vehicles and was used to evaluate off-cycle technologies such as air-conditioning, electrical load reduction technology and road load reduction technologies for the 2017-2025 LD GHG rule. The next version of the ALPHA tool will extend its modeling capabilities to include power-split and P2 parallel hybrid electric vehicles and their battery pack energy storage systems. Future versions of ALPHA will incorporate plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and electric vehicle (EV) architectures.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has been conducting a test program to evaluate efforts to bring light-duty diesel vehicles into compliance with U.S. Federal Tier 2 Light-duty Emission Standards. Between April 2002 and October 2003, five advanced prototype light-duty diesel vehicles equipped with NOx adsorption catalysts, PM-traps, and diesel oxidation catalysts were tested at the U.S. EPA's National Vehicle and Fuel Emission Laboratory (NVFEL). The vehicle testing was conducted using low sulfur (<15 ppm) diesel fuel. All of the tested vehicles demonstrated the considerable progress recently made by vehicle manufacturers and systems integrators in applying advanced NOx and PM emission control technology to light duty diesel vehicles in anticipation of the U.S. Light-duty Tier 2 emission standards. PM emissions for all of the vehicles were well below the Tier 2 Bin-5 emission levels.

Portable Emission Measurement Systems (PEMS) are used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to measure gaseous and particulate mass emissions from vehicles in normal, in-use, on-the-road operation to support many of its programs, including assessing mobile source emissions compliance, emissions factor assessment for in-use fleet modeling, and collection of in-use vehicle operational data to support vehicle simulation modeling programs. This paper discusses EPA’s use of Global Positioning System (GPS) measured altitude data and electronically logged vehicle speed data to provide real-world road grade data for use as an input into the Gamma Technologies GT-DRIVE+ vehicle model. The GPS measured altitudes and the CAN vehicle speed data were filtered and smoothed to calculate the road grades by using open-source Python code and associated packages.

An advanced prototype of the Toyota Avensis light-duty diesel vehicle equipped with a version of Toyota's DPNR exhaust emission control system was tested at the U.S. EPA - NVFEL facility. The vehicle is under development by Toyota Motor Corporation for introduction in Europe. While this particular model is not anticipated to be offered for sale in the U.S., EPA evaluated the vehicle to gauge the current state of light-duty diesel vehicle technology. The vehicle was tested using a low sulfur (6 ppm) diesel fuel with a cetane number that was improved to near typical European levels (∼50 cetane). Emission levels over the FTP75 consistent with U.S. Federal Light-Duty Tier 2 emission standards were achieved at levels of fuel economy that are competitive with current light-duty diesel passenger vehicles offered for sale in the U.S. The vehicle was tested with relatively low accumulated mileage.

Due to its high efficiency and superior durability the diesel engine is again becoming a prime candidate for future light-duty vehicle applications within the United States. While in Europe the overall diesel share exceeds 40%, the current diesel share in the U.S. is 1%. Despite the current situation and the very stringent Tier 2 emission standards, efforts are being made to introduce the diesel engine back into the U.S. market. In order to succeed, these vehicles have to comply with emissions standards over a 120,000 miles distance while maintaining their excellent fuel economy. The availability of technologies such as high-pressure common-rail fuel systems, low sulfur diesel fuel, NOx adsorber catalysts (NAC), and diesel particle filters (DPFs) allow the development of powertrain systems that have the potential to comply with the light-duty Tier 2 emission requirements. In support of this, the U.S.