USA / UK – Cummins Ltd of Darlington, UK, the European manufacturing hub for Cummins Inc of Columbus, Ohio, announced its readiness to meet Euro VI-step D emissions control with clean diesels at the UITP Congress. Compliance with the more stringent Phase-D regulation, follows a two-year development and test programme. The B4.5, B6.7 and L9 engines with a 150 to 400hp (112-298kW) range for bus and coach applications is to move to full production status at the Cummins Darlington facility in the UK before Phase-D takes effect on September 1, 2019.

The Euro VI Phase-D engines achieve nearer-to-zero emissions, representing an incremental step towards Euro VII regulations, anticipated to take effect after 2025. Cummins claims they are particularly relevant for bus operations, as they focus on tighter control limits for Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) emissions during lower speed city operations, as well as under cold engine start conditions. In addition to emissions test cell verification, the Phase-D regulations require on-road testing to capture real-world measurement. Duty cycle-based testing using high precision Portable Emissions Measurement systems (PEMs) installed on Cummins-powered buses has indicated a minimum 25% reduction in NOx emissions (from 0.7 NOx g/kW-hr down 0.45 NOx g/kW-hr), compared with 2015 Phase-A engines, when Euro VI was first introduced.