Meijer takes delivery of EPA 2010 trucks

Meijer, an US Environmental Protection Agency SmartWay award-winning Michigan-based retailer, has begun taking delivery of the nation’s first fleet of US EPA 2010 trucks from Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) that feature near-zero emissions technology.

In total, Meijer has purchased 75 Freightliner Cascadia trucks equipped with DD13 engines that represent a family of new fuel-efficient, reduced-emission engines developed by Detroit Diesel in collaboration with the Department of Energy’s 21st Century Truck Partnership Program.

The new fleet of Freightliner trucks will improve fuel efficiency while reducing emissions to near-zero levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx). With delivery of these trucks, Grand Rapids MI-based Meijer says it will operate the largest 2010 EPA emissions-compliant fleet in North America.

Dave Hoover, director of logistics at Meijer, said, “These trucks speak to our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint in so many different areas of our business. It’s also exciting to be partnering with a neighboring Michigan-based company to help stimulate the economy and provide jobs right in our own backyard.”

With the introduction of these trucks, Meijer expects to see a 47% reduction in particulate matter, a 55% reduction in nitrous oxide, and a 3% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. The Cascadia fleet will reduce CO2 emissions by 9,300 US tons, while virtually eliminating 525 US tons of smog-creating NOx from the air.

Meijer’s new Freightliner engines are designed with BlueTec emissions technology with the EPA 2010 standards in mind. In turn, the trucks deliver increased fuel economy of up to 5%. The trucks also mark an evolution of the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology developed by Daimler, which is used by more than 200,000 trucks in Europe and Japan.

SCR is an emissions technology that treats NOx emissions downstream in the exhaust so the engine can be tuned to run more efficiently and economically. The technology consists of an aftertreatment catalyst system that allows engine exhaust to be treated with a non-hazardous fluid known as diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) that reduces harmful NOx into simple nitrogen and water.