All major heavy duty truck and engine manufacturers have met new EPA emissions standards and have been certified by the agency for production, according to the Diesel Technology Forum. The new generation of big rigs, equipped with new particulate filters, are said to be 90 percent cleaner than their predecessors.
Paving the way for the development of these new clean rigs was the introduction of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel last October. The cleaner fuel allowed for the development and use of more effective emission devices like particulate filters which would quickly be rendered useless by the high sulfur content of the old fuel.
The potential environmental benefit of these new clean big rigs is huge. According to the EPA, emissions of greenhouse gases will be reduced by 2.6 million tons while soot emissions will be cut by 110,000 tons once the existing fleet gets replaced by the new rigs.