Cummins 6.7L Turbo Diesel receives LEV III emission certification

20 August 2014

Cummins announced that it has received certification for its 6.7L Turbo Diesel from the California Air Resources Board (ARB), meeting the Low-Emission Vehicle III (LEV III) standards. It is the first medium-duty diesel engine in the 8,501-14,000 lb GVWR segment to be certified to the new 2015 LEV III standards, according to Cummins. The Cummins 6.7L Turbo Diesel powers the Chrysler Ram Heavy-Duty lineup.

For 2015, there are two ARB Executive Orders for vehicles with the Cummins 6.7L engine:

• MDV4 (8501-10000 lb): The vehicle has been certified as LEV 3 ULEV340 (NMOG+NOx ≤ 0.340 g/mi), with a certification NMOG+NOx = 0.1362 g/mi (FTP). In MY 2014 (LEV II), the vehicle was certified at a combined NOx and NMOG level of 0.154 g/mi (0.15+0.004). Therefore, the LEV III certification represents a 12% reduction in NNMOG+NOx emissions.
• MDV5 (10001-14000 lb): The vehicle is certified as LEV 3 ULEV570 with a certification NMOG+NOx of 0.206 g/mi. In MY 2014, the MDV5 had an NOx+NMOG certification level 0.223 g/mi (0.22+0.003), which indicates an 8% emission reduction in the MY 2015 LEV III version.

The emission reductions were achieved without hardware changes to the engine or emission system. In both cases, the LEV III engine meets the 150,000 emission durability requirement (up from 120,000 mi at the LEV II stage). The emission system includes an SCR catalyst and a particulate filter.

Under LEV III, the nitrogen oxide (NOx) and non-methane organic gas (NMOG) standards are combined into a single NMOG+NOx standard. Manufacturers must meet a fleet average NMOG+NOx emission standard that is tightened each year until 2025, when a very stringent standard of 0.030 g/mi must be reached. Manufacturers have a choice of certifying particular vehicle models to a number of emission categories (certification bins) of varying NMOG+NOx stringency.

Cummins began providing diesel engines to Chrysler in 1988, and has shipped over 2 million engines in the last 25 years.

Source: Cummins