California Adopts LEV II Program
The Air Resources Board (ARB) adopted the staff's recommended LEV II Program. In a
surprise move the Board deleted the TLEV standards beginning with the 2004 model year. The
Board adopted the comprehensive changes to the LEV Program at a November 5, 1998 hearing.
The new requirements will be phased in beginning with the 2004 model year and will: 1)
combine passenger cars and light-duty trucks <8500 lbs GVW into one category; 2) tighten the
LEV and ULEV NOx standard to 0.05 gpm for vehicles under 8500 lbs GVW; 3) extend the
useful life requirements for vehicles under 8500 lbs GVW to 120,000 miles, with an option to
certify to 150,000 miles; 4) eliminate the TLEV standards; 5) tighten the NMOG corporate
average standard beyond the 2003 MY; 6) tighten the standards for medium-duty vehicles (8500
lbs -14000 lbs GVW) beginning in MY 2004; 7) provide manufacturers the flexibility to obtain
ZEV vehicle credits for hybrid vehicles and vehicles meeting newly created SULEV standards;
and 8) tighten the evaporative emission standards. ARB modified its compliance program to
align it to the federal program that EPA proposed earlier. The new compliance program will
place greater reliance on emission testing of in-use vehicles and less emphasis on certification
and assembly-line testing.
Emission Standards -- The proposed standards for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and
medium-duty vehicles are shown in Tables 1 and 2. The new LEV and ULEV standards for
vehicles under 8500 lbs GVW will be phased in between the 2004 MY and 2007 MY. The
program allows manufacturers to certify up to four percent of the new LDT2 category to a
marginally higher NOx standard; the staff estimates this will effect up to 25,000 LDTs. ARB
included this option to address manufacturers' concerns about the ability of LDTs used in
commercial applications with heavy pay loads to meet the tighter standards. The program also
provides for intermediate in-use compliance standards that apply for the first two years of a LEV
II vehicle's introduction in order to provide manufacturers with an "in-use compliance margin."
This provision is designed to provide some protection to manufacturers from recalls for excess
emissions resulting from unforeseen problems.
Table 1
Exhaust Mass Emission Standards for New 2004 and Subsequent Model
LEVs, ULEVs, and SULEVs
in the Passenger Car, Light-Duty Truck and Medium-Duty Vehicle Classes |
| Vehicle Type |
Mileage
for
Compliance |
Vehicle
Emission
Category |
NMOG
(g/mi) |
Carbon
Monoxide
(g/mi) |
Oxides of
Nitrogen
(g/mi) |
Formaldehyde
(mg/mi) |
Diesel
Particulate'
(g/mi) |
| All PCs;
LDTs <8,500 lbs.
GVW
Vehicles in this
category are tested at
their loaded vehicle
weight |
50,000 |
LEV |
0.075 |
3.4 |
0.05 |
15 |
n/a |
| LEV(1) |
0.075 |
3.4 |
0.07 |
15 |
n/a |
| ULEV |
0.040 |
1.7 |
0.05 |
8 |
n/a |
| 120,000 |
LEV |
0.090 |
4.2 |
0.07 |
18 |
0.01 |
| LEV(1) |
0.090 |
4.2 |
0.10 |
18 |
0.01 |
| ULEV |
0.055 |
2.1 |
0.07 |
11 |
0.01 |
| SULEV |
0.010 |
1.0 |
0.02 |
4 |
0.01 |
| 150,000
(Optional) |
LEV |
0.090 |
4.2 |
0.07 |
18 |
0.01 |
| LEV(1) |
0.090 |
4.2 |
0.10 |
18 |
n/a |
| ULEV |
0.055 |
2.1 |
0.07 |
11 |
0.01 |
| SULEV |
0.010 |
1.0 |
0.02 |
4 |
0.01 |
| MDVs
8,500-10,000 lbs.
GVWR
Vehicles in this
category are tested at
their loaded vehicle
weight (curb weight
plus ½ payload) |
120,000 |
LEV |
0.195 |
6.4 |
0.2 |
32 |
0.12 |
| ULEV |
0.143 |
6.4 |
0.2 |
16 |
0.06 |
| SULEV |
0.100 |
3.2 |
0.1 |
8 |
0.06 |
| MDVs
10,001-14,000 lbs.
GVWR
Vehicles in this
category are tested at
their loaded vehicle
weight |
120,000 |
LEV |
0.230 |
7.3 |
0.4 |
40 |
0.12 |
| ULEV |
0.167 |
7.3 |
0.4 |
21 |
0.06 |
| SULEV |
0.117 |
3.7 |
0.2 |
10 |
0.06 |
(1) This optional LEV standard applies to up to 4% of a manufacturer's LDT2 fleet with a maximum base payload in excess
of 2500 lbs.
|
Table 2
Fleet Average NMOG Exhaust Mass Emission Requirements for
Light-Duty Vehicle Weight Classes
(50,000 mile Durability Vehicle Basis) |
| Model Year |
Fleet Average NMOG (grams per mile
) |
| All PCs;
LDTs 0-3750 lbs. LVW |
LDTs
3751-7300 lbs. LVW |
| 2004 |
0.053 |
0.085 |
| 2005 |
0.049 |
0.076 |
| 2006 |
0.046 |
0.062 |
| 2007 |
0.043 |
0.055 |
| 2008 |
0.040 |
0.050 |
| 2009 |
0.038 |
0.047 |
| 2010+ |
0.035 |
0.043 |
The schedule for phasing-in the MDV standards is shown in Table 3.
Table 3
Medium-Duty Vehicle Phase-In Requirements
|
| Model Year |
Chassis Certified Vehicles (% Sales) |
Engines Certified Vehicles (% Sales) |
| Tier 1 |
LEV |
ULEV |
Tier 1 |
LEV |
ULEV |
| 1998 |
73 |
25 |
2 |
100 |
0 |
0 |
| 1999 |
48 |
50 |
2 |
100 |
0 |
0 |
| 2000 |
23 |
75 |
2 |
100 |
0 |
0 |
| 2001 |
0 |
80 |
20 |
100 |
0 |
0 |
| 2002 |
0 |
70 |
30 |
0 |
100 |
0 |
| 2003 |
0 |
60 |
40 |
0 |
100 |
0 |
| 2004+ |
0 |
40 |
60 |
0 |
0 |
100 |
ZEV Mandate and Compliance Flexibility -- ARB does not plan to consider changes to
the 2004 MY 10% ZEV mandate as part of this rulemaking, but the staff has proposed giving the
auto manufacturers flexibility in meeting the ZEV mandate requirement. Large volume
manufacturers could meet up to 60% of the ZEV mandate by certifying vehicles such as
SULEVs, hybrids, or methanol reformer fuel-cell vehicles. Smaller volume manufacturers
would have even greater flexibility in meeting the ZEV requirement. These categories of vehicles
would receive varying degrees of credit towards meeting the ZEV requirement as shown in Table
4 below. For a gasoline SULEV to receive ZEV credits, it must certify the 150,000 standards,
provide a 150,000 mile warranty, and have zero evaporative emissions.
| Table 4
Examples of Partial ZEV Allowance Calculation |
| Technology/Manufacturer |
Baseline
allowance |
Zero-emission
VMT
allowance |
Low fuel-cycle
allowance |
Partial ZEV
allowance3 |
| Gasoline SULEV |
0.2 |
0.0 |
0 |
0.2 |
| Hybrid gasoline SULEV with no AER, equipped
with adv. batteries, electric powertrain |
0.2 |
0.1 |
0 |
0.3 |
| CNG SULEV |
0.2 |
0.0 |
0.2 |
0.4 |
| Hybrid gasoline SULEV w/ 20-mile
AER, off-veh. recharging |
0.2 |
0.3 |
0.1 |
0.6 |
| On-board methanol reform. fuel cell (FC) vehicle |
0.2 |
0.31 |
0.22 |
0.7 |
| Hybrid SULEV with NIMH bat. (60 whr/kg) and
100-mile range. |
0.2 |
0.6 |
0.2 |
1.0 |
| On-board hydrogen FC vehicle w/ off-board
partial oxidation reforming of hydrogen using fuel
with low fuel-cycle emissions |
0.2 |
0.6 |
0.2 |
1.0 |
| 1) Assumes on-board methanol reformer produces virtually no NOx emissions
2) Assumes methanol has very low fuel-cycle emissions
3) Partial ZEV allowance= Baseline allowance + Zero-emission VMT allowance + Low fuel-cycle allowance |
[November 6, 1998]
