With just six months to go before the new EPA 2010 emissions standards for heavy-duty diesel engines go into effect, a national research study conducted in May 2009 by Quixote Group Research indicates that purchase consideration for SCR (selective catalytic reduction) remains significantly higher than increased EGR.
The online study was fielded among owners and operators of Class 8 heavy-duty trucks on behalf of the North American SCR Stakeholders Group and FactsAboutSCR.com. The final sample of 1,603 responses has a margin of error of ±2.4%.
More than half (51.2%) of all respondents are likely or very likely to consider SCR for their EPA 2010 engine purchase compared with 31.2% that are likely or very likely to consider increased EGR. Overall purchase consideration for the two emissions choices have remained statistically unchanged since the last survey was conducted in November 2008.
The ability of SCR to deliver increased fuel efficiency will likely have a strong influence on which emissions technology is selected for 2010 and beyond. Three-quarters (75.4%) of all respondents rated fuel efficiency as very important to the decision to purchase an EPA 2010-compliant engine, and nearly half (48.8%) of all respondents now correctly relate fuel savings of about 3% to 5% with SCR, which is up from 38.7% in November 2008.
Proven technology (production trucks and engines have been proven on-the-road) was rated as very important to the purchase decision by 70.1% of all respondents. Engine optimization and scheduled maintenance required by the 2010 technology were rated very important by 59.6% and 59.0% of all respondents, respectively. The weight added by the 2010 emissions technology had a significantly lower level of importance (44.2%) to the decisionmaking process.