Subpart D - General Vehicle Test Procedures

§610.40 General.

Two chassis dynamometer test procedures, the Federal Test Procedure and the Highway Fuel Economy Test will generally be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the devices supplemented by steady state or engine dynamometer tests where warranted. Under unusual circumstances, other test procedures, durability test procedures or special test procedures such as track versions of the City and Highway fuel economy tests may be used. These procedures are described in subparts E and F.

§610.41 Test configurations.

(a) In order to measure the effectiveness of a retrofit device at least two, and in some cases, three vehicle configurations defined in §610.11 will be tested. Each vehicle will be tested at least twice in each configuration, as determined by the Administrator.

§610.42 Fuel economy measurement.

(a) Fuel consumption will be measured by:

(1) The carbon balance method, or

(2) Gravimetric or volumetric methods. In the gravimetric and volumetric methods, fuel consumption is determined by weighing the fuel source before and after a test, or by measuring the volume of fuel consumed during a test. Since the distance traveled during the tests is known, the fuel economy, in miles per gallon, can be calculated. Gravimetric and volumetric methods require the use of special test equipment in addition to the emissions measuring equipment.

(b) The carbon balance procedure for measuring fuel consumption relates the carbon products in the exhaust to the amount of fuel burned during the test. This method will be the one used to measure fuel economy unless track or road tests are employed.

(c) Three values of fuel economy will be reported: for city driving ('75 FTP), for highway driving (HFET), and the combined city/highway value calculated according to this equation:

§610.43 Chassis dynamometer procedures.

(a)(1) 1975 Federal Test Procedure. Vehicle exhaust emissions and fuel economy under urban driving conditions will be measured according to the Federal emission test procedure described in 40 CFR part 86, subpart B, which is known as the 1975 Federal Test Procedure ('75 FTP). However, the following modifications will be employed:

(i) No evaporative emission loss, as specified by 40 CFR part 86 need be measured (with the exception of devices modifying or disconnecting existing evaporative control devices in such a manner as would be expected to adversely affect their evaporative emission control performance).

(ii) Vehicle preconditioning shall consist of operation of the vehicle through one (1) EPA Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule. This preconditioning must be done at least 12 hours, but no earlier than 36 hours before the emission test.

(iii) While the test fuel must meet the specifications outlined in 40 CFR part 86, fuel conditioning as specified for evaporative emission test procedures is not required.

(b) Highway Fuel Economy Test. The test vehicle is fully warmed up at the start of the highway Fuel Economy Test which is ordinarily run immediately following the Federal Emission Test Procedure. The test procedure to be followed for generation of highway fuel economy data is that specified in §600.111.

(c) Steady state tests. Constant speed, road load tests may be conducted to help give insight into operational differences and exhaust emission and fuel economy changes due to a retrofit device. Speeds between 0 (engine idling) and 60 mpg will be investigated, with a time period at each speed long enough to ensure that engine operation has stabilized.