Multi-Year On-Road Emission Factor Trends of Two Heavy-Duty California Fleets

New heavy-duty vehicle emission regulations have resulted in the development of advanced exhaust after-treatment systems that specifically target particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2). This has resulted in significant decreases in the emissions of these species. The University of Denver has collected three data sets of on-road gaseous (CO, HC, NO and NOx) and PM (particle mass, black carbon and particle number) emission measurements from heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) in the spring of 2013, 2015 and 2017 at two different locations in California. One site is located at the Port of Los Angeles, CA (1,150 HDVs measured in 2017) and the other site is located at a weigh station in Northern California near Cottonwood, CA (780 HDVs measured in 2017). The On-Road Heavy-Duty Measurement Setup measures individual HDV's fuel specific emissions (DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.6b06172). Vehicles drive under a tent-like structure that encapsulates vehicle exhaust and 15 seconds of data collection is integrated to give fuel specific information. The measurements obtained from these campaigns contain real-world emissions affected by different driving modes, after-treatment systems and location. The Port of Los Angeles contributes a fleet that is fully equipped with diesel particulate filters (DPFs) as a result of the San Pedro Ports Clean Air Action Plan enforced since 2010 that allows only vehicles model year 2007 or newer on the premises. This fleet, although comprised with relatively new HDVs with lower PM emissions, has increased PM emissions as it has aged. Cottonwood's fleet contains vehicles with and without after-treatment systems, a result of a gradual turnover rate, and fleet PM has decreased at a slower rate than at the Port of Los Angeles. The decrease in PM emissions is a result of more HDVs being newer model years as well as older model years being retrofit with DPFs. The complimentary fleets, studied over multiple years, have given the University of Denver an extensive data repository to quantify on-road vehicle emission trends on individual vehicles as well as categories of vehicles. Here, the 2017 campaign results will be discussed and compared to previous campaigns.