Technical Standards

Applicability

The affected heavy- and medium-duty fleet incorporates all on-road vehicles rated at a GVW ≥ 3,856 kg (8,500 lbs.), and the engines that power them, except those covered by the Passenger Automobile and Light Truck Greenhouse Gas Emission Regulations.

CO₂ standards are applicable to three categories of vehicles: tractor trucks (Classes 7 and 8), heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans (Class 2b and 3), vocational vehicles (Classes 2b to 8).In addition, there are engine-specific CO₂ requirements for the engines of tractor trucks and vocational vehicles. In the second phase of the standards, a new category was added for commercial trailers.

While these categories largely align with the categories in the U.S. Phase 2 GHG regulations, an important difference is ECCC’s regulation of tractor-trailers greater than 120,000 lbs. due to a larger presence of larger tractors in Canada than in the United States. Tractor trucks with GVW between 120,000 and 140,000 lbs. are referred to as “Class 8 heavy line haul tractors” and those > 140,000 lbs. are referred to as “heavy haul tractors.” Standards for tractors > 120,000 lbs. are optional in the U.S. but are mandatory in Canada.

CO₂ standards

Heavy-duty Vehicles

Companies must group all Class 2B and Class 3 heavy-duty vehicles and heavy-duty incomplete vehicles of the 2014 and subsequent model years (excluding those referred to in the definition “vocational vehicle”) into a fleet based on model year and must ensure that the fleet average CO₂ emission value calculated for that fleet does not exceed the applicable fleet average CO₂ emission standard calculated for that fleet for the model year in question. CO₂ standards are in the form of a set of target standard curves and are based on a “work factor” that combines a vehicle’s payload, towing capabilities, and whether or not it has 4-wheel drive. The standards will phase in with increasing stringency in each model year from 2014 to 2018. The standards include a separate standard to control air conditioning system leakage.

Combination tractors

CO₂ emissions standards for Class 7 tractors and Class 8 day and sleeper tractors are identical to the Phase 2 EPA CO2 emissions standards with the only difference being the tractor rules.

Below are Canada-specific tractor rules; other CO₂ requirements for other classes can be found on the U.S. Heavy-duty GHG Emissions page:

Identical to the U.S. standards, Canada’s standards also specify emissions standards for engines installed in tractors and can be found on the U.S. Heavy-duty GHG Emissions page.

Heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans (Class 2b and 3)

Standards for heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans for Canada are identical to the U.S. CO₂ standards and can be found on the U.S. Heavy-duty GHG Emissions page.

Trailers

Trailers are a newly regulated category added for Canada’s second-phase regulations. The standards are identical to the U.S. CO₂ standards and can be found on the U.S. Heavy-duty GHG Emissions page. Since 2017, there has been a U.S. court-ordered stay on the enforcement of these trailer standards, and the legal challenge has not yet been resolved.

Useful life

CO₂ emissions must be met over the engine and vehicle’s useful life. The useful life definitions for engines and vehicles that use the respective engine categories are identical to those defined for criteria pollutant standards for MY 2004 and later heavy-duty engines:

• Light Heavy Class 2b–5: 150,000 miles or 15 years
• Medium Heavy Class 6–7: 185,000 miles or 10 years
• Heavy Heavy Class 8: 435,000 miles or 10 years
• Trailers: 10 years

Other standards and provisions

N₂O and CH₄ standards

N₂O and CH₄ standards introduce emission standards for nitrous oxide and methane:

• Engine testing: N₂O = 0.10 g/bhp-hr; CH₄ = 0.10 g/bhp-hr
• Chassis testing: N₂O = 0.05 g/mi; CH₄ = 0.05 g/mi

Testing requirements start from MY 2014, consistent with N₂O/CH₄ requirements for light-duty vehicles. The standards were designed to cap emissions at current levels to prevent N₂O and CH₄ emission increases in future engines.

A/C leakage

The standards assure that low-leakage components are used in air conditioning systems designed for heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans, and semi-trucks. The standard for larger A/C systems (capacity above 734 g) is measured in percent total refrigerant leakage per year, while the standard for smaller A/C systems (capacity of 734 g or less) is measured in grams of refrigerant leakage per year.

Canada-specific provisions

Averaging, banking, and trading

In terms of flexibility provisions, the regulations allow manufacturers and importers of heavy-duty vehicles and engines to meet the standards based on sales and averaging (where emissions are averaged over groups of vehicles owned by a company, rather than regulating emissions for individual vehicles) in the Canadian market by participating in a CO₂ emission credit system. To minimize the administrative burden on manufacturers and importers, Environment Canada has developed streamlined reporting procedures that are coordinated with the U.S. EPA.

An important exception to these ABT provisions is the case for importers and manufacturers of U.S. EPA-certified engines, which are not required to demonstrate compliance based on Canada-specific sales if they meet certain sale thresholds, which depend on a ratio of the number of engines sold in Canada and in the United States.

Concurrent sales

Engines that are certified by the U.S. EPA can be sold concurrently in Canada without demonstrating compliance based on Canada sales-weighted averaging (i.e., U.S. EPA-certified engines that are sold in Canada do not count towards fleet average emissions limits, potentially allowing more engines that emit higher levels of CO₂ levels than the standard to be sold in Canada). However, a key stipulation to prevent the development of high-emitting niche engines for the Canadian market is that the higher-emitting engines must be sold in greater quantities in the U.S, than in Canada. For an engine certified at CO₂ levels higher than the standard, if the number of engines sold in Canada (1) is more than 1,000 and exceeds the number of engines of the same engine family that is sold in the U.S., or (2) is between 101 and 1,000 and is more than twice the number of engines sold in the US, that engine must participate in the CO₂ emission credit system based on sales in Canada.

Additional flexibility provisions

To minimize the regulatory burden on industry, ECCC has proposed a number of additional flexibility provisions, including:

• Exemption for manufacturers or importers that sell less than 200 combined tractors and vocational vehicles in Canada in a given model year;
• Additional exemptions from CO2 limits and reporting requirements for the engines sold in the exempted tractors and vocational vehicles;
• One-year temporary exemption for small volume manufacturers or importers that sell less than 100 trailers in Canada in 2020; and
• Transitional flexibility for all manufacturers or importers of MY 2018 to 2026 trailers, who can choose to exempt 20% of their trailers sold from the regulation. This 20% value is capped at less than 25 for box trailers and less than 20 for non-box trailers.