In a letter to Tina Vujovich, Cummins’ vp for environmental policy and product strategy, EPA officials said the agency had finished reviewing the company’s certification application for the heavy-duty ISX and that it expected to issue a formal emissions certificate “no later than March 29, 2002.”
“For all intents and purposes, we’ve finished technical discussions with EPA on the ISX,” Vujovich said during a press conference at company headquarters in Columbus, IN.
The ISX uses cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) to bring engine NOx emissions within stringent new limits set to take effect in October. Some observers had speculated that Cummins would have trouble winning EPA approval for auxiliary emissions control devices (AECDs) that allow the engine to exceed the new limits for brief periods under certain operating conditions.
With its first engine finished with the certification process for the new emissions standards, Cummins says it will file certification applications for its 6-liter ISB engine in May and 11-liter ISM in August. Like the ISX, both will use cooled EGR to meet the Oct. 2002 emissions requirements.
