Air Pollutant Emission Performance for the 2023 Model Year On-Road Vehicle Fleet

The Regulations were subsequently amended in 2015 to set new progressively more stringent emission standards (Tier 3) for passenger cars, light-duty trucks and certain heavy-duty vehicles for 2017 and later MYs that are imported or manufactured in Canada. The amendments established vehicle and fleet average standards over the MYs 2017 to 2025 for combined emissions of NMOG and NO_x and establish a phase-in schedule for more stringent PM and evaporative emission standards, in alignment with the U.S. EPA standards adopted in 2014.

A company’s fleet of light-duty vehicles, light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles will have to comply with progressively more stringent exhaust emission standards, reaching a fleet average standard for emission of NMOG+NO_x of 30 milligrams per mile as of MY 2025. Similarly, heavy-duty vehicle weight classes 2B^{Footnote 5}  and 3^{Footnote 6}  will be required to comply with progressively more stringent fleet average standards for emissions of NMOG+NO_x, reaching fleet average standards of 178 milligrams/mile and 247 milligrams/mile, respectively, as of MY 2022.

Also, as of MY 2017, new PM exhaust emission standards were introduced by using a phase-in approach where an increasing percentage of vehicles in a company’s fleet for each successive MY are required to comply with the standards, with full implementation commencing with MY 2021. The Regulations provides for an alternative phase-in compliance approach for these standards which allows companies to conform to the standards by demonstrating that an equivalent number of vehicles conform to the new standards, when averaged over more than 1 MY included in the phase-in period. For vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) up to 6,000 lb, the PM standard is 3 milligrams/mile. For vehicles with a GVWR above 6,000 lb and up to 14,000 lb, this standard is 3 milligrams/mile for the applicable light-duty trucks and MDPVs, and 8 milligrams/mile and 10 milligrams/mile for heavy-duty vehicle weight classes 2B and 3, respectively.

As of MY 2017, new evaporative emission (EVAP) standards are introduced by using a phase-in approach where an increasing percentage of a company’s fleet of vehicles for each successive MY are required to comply with the standards, with full implementation commencing with MY 2022. The Regulations provides for an alternative phase-in compliance approach for these standards which allows companies to conform to the standards by demonstrating that an equivalent number of vehicles conform to the new standards, when averaged over more than 1 MY included in the phase-in period. For LDV and LDT1 vehicles, this standard is 0.3 grams per test. For LDT2 vehicles, this standard is 0.4 grams per test. For HLDTs, this standard is 0.5 grams per test and for heavy-duty vehicles (Class 2B and 3), this standard is 0.6 grams per test.

The 2015 amendments also introduced new fleet average standards in Canada for cold temperature exhaust emissions of NMHCs. For fleets consisting of vehicles with a GVWR up to 6,000 lb, the cold temperature NMHC fleet average standard is fixed at 0.3 grams/mile, starting with the 2017 MY. For fleets consisting of vehicles with a GVWR above 6,000 lb and up to 10,000 lb, the cold temperate NMHC fleet average standard is fixed at 0.5 grams/mile, starting with the 2017 MY.

Flexibilities for vehicles sold concurrently in Canada and the United States are included for compliance with the fleet average emission standards as well as the phase-in emission standards. These flexibilities recognize that the emission performance of a company’s fleet of vehicle models that are sold concurrently in the United States is effectively anchored by the U.S. regulatory program.

The Regulations require that all companies submit a compliance report to the Minister no later than May 1 after the end of each MY. The end of MY report must contain detailed information concerning the company’s fleet(s) and/or groups of vehicles.

For more information regarding the Regulations, or more specifically, the calculation of fleet average values and emission credits or deficits, please refer to the Regulations, which can be found on the Environment and Climate Change Canada CEPA Environmental Registry.

3. Tier 3 reporting for the 2023 MY

Under the Tier 3 standards, companies certify a vehicle to a combined “NMOG+NO_x” bin. These bins represent the Federal Test Procedure (FTP) standards that vehicles are certified against. For the 2023 MY, a company’s fleet average NMOG+NO_x FTP values are calculated over the following fleets:

1. A company’s fleet that is composed of all of its light-duty vehicles and light-duty trucks 1 to which the applicable NMOG+NO_x standard applies for a useful life of 120,000 miles
2. A company’s fleet that is composed of all of its light-duty vehicles and light-duty trucks 1 to which the applicable NMOG+NO_x standard applies for a useful life of 150,000 miles
3. A company’s fleet that is composed of all of its light-duty trucks 2, heavy light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles
4. A company’s fleet that is composed of all of its Class 2B vehicles
5. A company’s fleet that is composed of all of its Class 3 vehicles

Table 1, table 2 and table 3 presents the corresponding exhaust emission standards for the Tier 3 FTP bins.

1. Transitional Bins to which vehicles may be certified to through MY 2019.

1. Transitional Bins to which vehicles may be certified to through MY 2021.

1. Transitional Bins to which vehicles may be certified to through MY 2021.

Table 4 presents the companies that submitted an end of MY report which contained vehicles that were certified to Tier 3 standards, including the vehicle makes and the number of Tier 3 certified test groups.

Table 5 summarizes the distribution of vehicles by the NMOG+NO_x standard for each bin.

1. Transitional Bins

3.1. Fleet average NMOG+NO_x emission performance

This section describes the manufacturers NMOG+NO_x fleet average performance.

Table 6 and table 7, both taken from section 86.1811-17 of the CFR, present the declining fleet average Tier 3 FTP and Supplemental Federal Test Procedure (SFTP) emission standards for NMOG+NO_x for light-duty vehicles, light-duty trucks, heavy-light duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles from MY 2017 to MY 2025.

1. Vehicles certified to standards based on a useful life of 120,000 miles may comply based on the fleet-average standard specified for 150,000 mile useful life in certain circumstances as specified in paragraph (b)(8)(iii)(A) of this section.

2. MDPVs are subject to all the same emission standards and certification provisions that apply to LDT4.

3. HLDT and MDPV must meet the Tier 3 standards starting with MY 2018.

1. HLDT and MDPV must meet the Tier 3 standards starting with MY 2018.

Table 8, taken from section 86.1818-18 of the CFR, presents the declining fleet average Tier 3 FTP emission standards for NMOG+NO_x for Class 2B and Class 3 vehicles from MY 2018 to MY 2022.

1. Fleet-average standards are shown for 2016 and 2017 for purposes of voluntary early compliance.

3.1.1. Light-duty vehicles and light-duty trucks 1, 150k

Table 9 presents the summary of the company average NMOG+NO_x FTP values for their LDV/LDT1 150k fleets.

Table 10 presents the summary of the company average NMOG+NO_x SFTP values for their LDV/LDT1 150k fleets.

3.1.2. Light-duty trucks 2, heavy light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles

Table 11 presents the summary of the company average NMOG+NO_x FTP values for their LDT2/HLDT/MDPV fleets.

Table 12 presents the summary of the company average NMOG+NO_x SFTP values for their LDT2/HLDT/MDPV fleets.

3.1.3. Class 2B vehicles

Table 13 presents the summary of the company average NMOG+NO_x FTP values for their Class 2B vehicle fleets.

3.1.4. Class 3 vehicles

Table 14 presents the summary of the company average NMOG+NO_x FTP values for their Class 3 fleets.

Average NMOG+NO_x values above the applicable NMOG+NO_x standards (i.e. negative total MY credits) for a given fleet can be attributed to the following factors:

1. The company elects to exclude from mandatory compliance with the fleet average NMOG+NO_x standard its group of U.S. certified vehicles that are sold in Canada and the U.S. This exclusion is allowed because the objective of the fleet averaging provisions is to achieve an overall Canadian vehicle fleet emission performance comparable to that of the U.S., while minimizing the regulatory burden on companies. An analysis conducted by Environment and Climate Change Canada indicated that, even under extreme scenarios, the variations between the Canadian and U.S. fleet averages are expected to be small.
2. The company made use of an interim provision allowing them to include their LDV/LDT1 120,000 mile useful life vehicles certified to bins greater than bin 70 in their LDV/LDT1 150,000 mile useful life fleet. This interim provision may be used through MY 2019. This allows their LDV/LDT1 120,000 vehicles to meet the less stringent standard of the LDV/LDT1 150,000 fleet.
3. The average NMOG+NO_x value is above the NMOG+NO_x standard for 1 of its fleets. A company can offset a deficit from 1 fleet with credits from another fleet within the same averaging set.
4. The average NMOG+NO_x value is above the applicable standard. A company can offset a deficit in a subsequent MY.

3.1.5. NMOG+NO_x Averaging Sets

NMOG+NO_x credits may be exchanged only within an averaging set, as follows:

1. LDV and LDT1 certified to standards based on a useful life of 120,000 miles and 10 years
2. 2) LDV, LDT and MDPV certified to standards based on a useful life of 150,000 miles and 15 years
3. HDV (Class 2B and 3)

However, FTP and SFTP credits are not interchangeable.

3.1.6. Early action credits

Early Action credits were earned over the 2015-2016 MYs for a company’s fleet of LDV/LDT1 vehicles and over the 2016-2017 MYs for a company’s fleet of LDT2/HLDT/MDPV vehicles if the respective NMOG+NO_x fleet averages are below the 0.160 standard.

Early action credits were also earned over the 2016-2017 MYs for a company’s fleet of Class 2B vehicles or fleet of Class 3 vehicles if the respective NMOG+NO_x fleet averages are below the applicable standards for the MY in question set out in Table 8.

3.1.7. Overall performance of Canadian fleets

Figure 2 shows the overall Canadian NMOG+NO_x fleet averages from the 2015 to 2022 MY for the LDV/LDT1 and LDT2/HLDT/MDPV fleets.

Figure 2: NMOG+NO_x Fleet averages and standards for the light-duty vehicle and light-duty truck 1 fleet and the light-duty truck 2, heavy light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles fleet

Figure 3 shows the overall Canadian NMOG+NO_x fleet averages from the 2018 to 2023 MY for the Class 2B and Class 3 fleets.

Figure 3: NMOG+NO_x Fleet averages and standards for the Class 2B fleet and the Class 3 fleet

3.2. Fleet average cold NMHC emission performance

This section describes the manufacturer’s cold NMHC fleet average performance.

Table 15 presents the fleet average cold temperature NMHC exhaust emission standards.

3.2.2. Heavy light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles

Table 17 presents the summary of company average cold NMHC values for their HLDT/MDPV fleets.

3.3. Fleet average EVAP emission performance

This section describes the manufacturers EVAP fleet average performance.

Table 18 presents the fleet average EVAP emission standards.

3.3.1. Light-duty vehicles and light-duty trucks 1

Table 19 presents the summary of company average EVAP values for their LDV/LDT1 fleets.

3.3.2. Light-duty trucks 2

Table 20 presents the summary of company average EVAP values for their LDT2 fleets.

3.3.3. Heavy light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles

Table 21 presents the summary of company average EVAP values for their HLTD/MDPV fleets.

3.3.4. Class 2B and Class 3 vehicles

Table 22 presents the summary of company average EVAP values for their Class 2B and Class 3 fleets.

3.3.5. Evaporative emission averaging sets

The following separate averaging sets apply for evaporative emission standards:

1. LDV and LDT1 together represent a single averaging set
2. LDT2 represents a single averaging set
3. HLDT and MDPV represent a single averaging set
4. HDV (Class 2B and 3) represents a single averaging set

Credits can be exchanged across averaging sets as follows if additional credits are needed to offset a deficit after the final year of maintaining deficit credits:

1. You may exchange LDV/LDT1 and LDT2 emission credits
2. You may exchange HLDT and HDV emission credits

3.4. PM and EVAP phase-in performance

For the 2022 MY, 100% of a company’s fleet of light-duty vehicles, light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles and 100% of a company’s fleet of Class 2B and Class 3 vehicles must meet the Tier 3 PM standards and 100% of a company’s overall fleet must meet the Tier 3 EVAP standards. All companies met these requirements.

4. Conclusions

The 2023 MY results represent the seventh reporting cycle under the new more stringent Tier 3 emission standards. All companies subject to reporting requirements submitted end of MY reports comprising a total of 1,666,211 vehicles manufactured in Canada or imported into Canada for the purpose of first retail sale.

The average NMOG+NO_x value for the Canadian 2023 MY combined fleet of light-duty vehicles and light-duty trucks 1 is 0.0393637 grams/mile compared to the standards of 0.044 grams/mile. The average NMOG+NO_x value for the Canadian 2023 MY combined fleet of light-duty trucks 2, heavy light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles is 0.47818505 grams/mile compared to the standard of 0.047 grams/mile. The average NMOG+NO_x value for the Canadian 2023 MY fleet of Class 2B vehicles is 0.16807 grams/mile compared to the standard of 0.178 grams/mile. The average NMOG+NO_x value for the Canadian 2023 MY fleet of Class 3 vehicles is 0.25533 grams/mile compared to the standard of 0.247 grams/mile.

The overall NMOG+NO_x fleet averages demonstrate continued industry improvements in emission performance since 2004. While the fleet average values for the light-duty trucks 2, heavy light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles fleet, the Class 2B fleet and the Class 3 fleet are slightly above the applicable standards for the 2023 MY, companies have three years to offset any carryover deficits, and all currently remain in compliance with the fleet average provisions of the Regulations.

All companies have complied with the PM and EVAP standards, the and EVAP phase-in percentages and have met the cold NMHC fleet average standards.

All companies remain in compliance with the Regulations.