Air Pollutant Emission Performance for the 2024 Model Year On-Road Vehicle Fleet

Executive summary

The On-Road Vehicle and Engine Emission Regulations (hereinafter referred to as the “Regulations”) establish national emission standards to limit smog-forming emissions (non-methane organic gases (NMOG), nitrous oxides (NO_x), particulate matter (PM), cold non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC), evaporative emissions (EVAP)) from new on-road vehicles and engines. The Tier 3 fleet average standards which came into place in July of 2015 continue to align with the progressively more stringent standards adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the 2017 through 2025 model years (MYs) and beyond. These Regulations require importers and manufacturers of new vehicles to meet fleet average emission standards for air pollutants and establish annual compliance reporting requirements. The 2017 MY was the first MY in which companies are required to meet the new Tier 3 standards.

This report summarizes the fleet average air pollutant emission performance of the Canadian 2024 MY fleet of vehicles. A total of 26 companies submitted end of MY reports comprising a total of 1,808,386 vehicles manufactured in Canada or imported into Canada for the purpose of first retail sale. This report includes the fleet average NMOG+NO_x, cold NMHC and EVAP values for each company as well as their number of emission credits or deficits. It also provides a comparison of the distribution of vehicles certified to the various emission bins and compares the overall NMOG+NO_x performance with that of the pre-Tier 3 MYs.

The average NMOG+NO_x value for the Canadian 2024 MY combined fleet of light-duty vehicles and light-duty trucks 1 is 0.0318593 grams/mile compared to the standards of 0.037 grams/mile. The average NMOG+NO_x value for the Canadian 2024 MY combined fleet of light-duty trucks 2, heavy-light duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles is 0.04469244 grams/mile compared to the standard of 0.038 grams/mile. The average NMOG+NO_x value for the Canadian 2024 MY fleet of Class 2B vehicles is 0.17001 grams/mile compared to the standard of 0.178 grams/mile. The average NMOG+NO_x value for the Canadian 2024 MY fleet of Class 3 vehicles is 0.24823 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 and the Class 3 fleet are slightly above the applicable standards for the 2024 MY, companies have 3 years to offset any carryover deficits, and all currently remain in compliance with the fleet averaging provisions of the Regulations.

All companies have complied with the 2024 PM and EVAP standards and have met the cold NMHC fleet average standards.

All companies remain in compliance with the Regulations.

1. Purpose

The purpose of this report is to summarize the fleet average air pollutant emission performance of individual companies and the overall Canadian fleet for the 2024 MY. It’s based on data submitted by companies in their end of MY reports and any subsequent revisions received prior to the publication of this report. It also serves to report on the effectiveness of the Canadian fleet average air pollutant emission program in achieving the environmental performance objectives outlined in the Regulations.

2. The Regulations

On January 1, 2004, the On-Road Vehicle and Engine Emission Regulations came into effect under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA). These regulations introduced more stringent national emission standards for on-road vehicles and engines. The Regulations align Canada’s emission standards for light-duty vehicles^Footnote1 (LDVs), light light-duty trucks^Footnote2 (LLDTs) composed of light-duty trucks 1 (LDT1) and light-duty trucks 2 (LDT2), heavy light-duty trucks^Footnote3 (HLDTs) composed of light-duty trucks 3 (LDT3) and light-duty trucks 4 (LDT4), medium-duty passenger vehicles^Footnote4 (MDPVs), as well as heavy-duty vehicles, heavy-duty engines and on-road motorcycles with those of the U.S. EPA through incorporation by reference to the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

From MY 2004 through MY 2016, companies were required to meet fleet average NO_x emission standards (Tier 1 and Tier 2 standards). Figure 1 shows the overall Canadian performance during those years.

Figure 1: NOx fleet averages and standards for model years 2004 through 2016

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 established 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 LDVs, light-duty trucks and MDPVs 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^Footnote5 and 3^Footnote6 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 EVAP standards were 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 was 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 was 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 2024 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 2024 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 LDVs and LDT 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 LDVs and LDT1 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 LDT2, HLDT and MDPVs
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 outline 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.

3.1. Fleet average NMOG+NOx 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 LDVs, light-duty trucks, HLDTs and MDPVs 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, 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 provides a summary of the company average NMOG+NO_x FTP values for their LDT2/HLDT/MDPV fleets.

Table 12 provides a 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.

Fleet average NMOG+NO_x values above the applicable NMOG+NO_x standards (that is, 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 120k mile useful life vehicles certified to bins greater than bin 70 in their LDV/LDT1 150k mile useful life fleet. This interim provision may be used through MY 2019. This allows their LDV/LDT1 120k vehicles to meet the less stringent standard of the LDV/LDT1 150k 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+NOx 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. 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. NMOG+NOx averaging set credit balances

Table 15 presents the company overall credit balances for each NMOG+NOx averaging sets including any early action credits earned. Negative numbers represent a deficit.

3.1.8. Overall performance of Canadian fleets

Figure 2 shows the overall Canadian NMOG+NO_x fleet averages from the 2015 to 2024 MY for the LDV/LDT1 and LDT2/HLDT/MDPV fleets.

Figure 2: NMOG+NOx 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 2024 MY for the Class 2B and Class 3 fleets.

Figure 3: NMOG+NOx 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 16 presents the fleet average cold temperature NMHC exhaust emission standards.

3.2.1. Light-duty vehicles and light light-duty trucks

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

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

Table 18 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 19 presents the fleet average EVAP emission standards.

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

Table 20 shows the summary of company average EVAP values for their LDV/LDT1 fleets.

3.3.2. Light-duty trucks 2

Table 21 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 22 presents the summary of company average EVAP values for their HLTD/MDPV fleets.

3.3.4. Class 2B and Class 3 vehicles

Table 23 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 2024 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 2024 MY results represent the eight-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 1,808,386 vehicles manufactured in Canada or imported into Canada for the purpose of first retail sale.

The average NMOG+NO_x value for the Canadian 2024 MY combined fleet of light-duty vehicles and light-duty trucks 1 is 0.0318593 grams/mile compared to the standards of 0.037 grams/mile. The average NMOG+NO_x value for the Canadian 2024 MY combined fleet of light-duty trucks 2, heavy-light duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles is 0.04469244 grams/mile compared to the standard of 0.038 grams/mile. The average NMOG+NO_x value for the Canadian 2024 MY fleet of Class 2B vehicles is 0.17001 grams/mile compared to the standard of 0.178 grams/mile. The average NMOG+NO_x value for the Canadian 2024 MY fleet of Class 3 vehicles is 0.24823 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 and the Class 3 fleet are slightly above the applicable standards for the 2024 MY, companies have 3 years to offset any carryover deficits, and all currently remain in compliance with the fleet averaging provisions of the Regulations.

All companies have complied with the PM and EVAP standards and have met the cold NMHC fleet average standards.

All companies remain in compliance with the Regulations.