Impact of Underestimating the Effects of Cold Temperature on Motor Vehicle Start Emissions of Air Toxics in the United States

Abstract

Analyses of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certification data, California Air Resources Board surveil-lance testing data, and EPA research testing data indicated that EPA’s MOBILE6.2 emission factor model substantially underestimates emissions of gaseous air toxics occurring during vehicle starts at cold temperatures for light-duty vehicles and trucks meeting EPA Tier 1 and later standards. An unofficial version of the MOBILE6.2 model was created to account for these underestimates. When this unofficial version of the model was used to project emissions into the future, emissions increased by almost 100% by calendar year 2030, and estimated modeled ambient air toxics concentrations increased by 6–84%, depending on the pollutant. To address these elevated emissions, EPA recently finalized standards requiring reductions of emissions when engines start at cold temperatures.