The complete EPA document is located at this url
http://www.epa.gov/EPA-AIR/2002/November/Day-08/a23801.htm
Below are the excerpts from the EPA documents. Some sections of the legislation have been bolded.
I. Introduction Section – Under sub category B. How is this Document Organized?
Section II describes general provisions that are relevant to all of the nonroad engines covered by this rulemaking. Section III through VI present information specific to each of the affected nonroad applications, including standards, effective dates, testing information, and other specific requirements.
I. Introduction Section – Under sub category C. What Categories of Vehicles and Engines are covered in this Final Rule?
For recreational vehicles, we are adopting separate emission standards for snowmobiles, off-highway motorcycles, and all-terrain vehicles. For snowmobiles, we are adopting a first phase of standards for HC and CO emissions based on a mixture of technologies ranging from clean carburetion and engine modifications to direct fuel injection two-stroke technology and some conversion to four-stroke engines, and second and third phases of emission standards for snowmobiles that will involve significant use of direct fuel injection two-stroke technology and conversion to four-stroke engines. For off highway motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, we are adopting standards based mainly on moving these engines from two-stroke to four-stroke technology with the use of some secondary air injection. We are also adopting requirements to address permeation emissions from all three types of recreational vehicles.
I. Introduction Section – Under sub category E. Why is the EPA Taking this Action?
We believe technology can be applied to these engines that will reduce emissions of these harmful pollutants. Manufacturers can reduce two-stroke engine emissions by improving fuel management and calibration. This can be achieved by making improvements to carbureted
fuel systems and/or converting to electronic and direct fuel injection. In addition, many of the existing two-stroke engines in these categories can be converted to four-stroke technology. Finally, there are modifications that can be made to four-stroke engines, often short of requiring catalysts, that can reduce emissions even further.
II. Nonroad: General Provisions – Under sub category A. Scope of Application #4.
In addition, the Clean Air Act does not consider stationary engines or engines used solely for competition to be nonroad engines, so the emission standards do not apply to them. Refer to the program discussions below for a description of how these exclusions or exemptions apply for different categories of engines.
III. Recreational Vehicles and Engines – Under sub category B. Engines Covered by this Rule
5. Competition Exemptions
a. Off-Highway motorcycles. Currently, a large portion of off-highway motorcycles are designed as competition/racing motorcycles. These models often represent a manufacturer’s high-performance
offerings in the off-highway market. Most such motorcycles are of the motocross variety, although some high-performance enduro models are marketed for competition use.49 50 These high-performance
motorcycles are largely powered by two-stroke engines, though some four-stroke models have been introduced in recent years.
Competition events for motocross motorcycles mostly involve closed-course or track racing. Other types of off-highway motorcycles, such as enduros and trials bikes, are usually marketed for trail or open-area use. When used for competition, these models are likely to be involved in point-to-point competition events over trails or stretches of open land. There are also specialized off-highway motorcycles that are designed for competitions such as ice racing, drag racing, and observed trials competition. A few races involve professional manufacturer-sponsored racing teams. Amateur competition events for off-highway motorcycles are also held frequently in many areas of the U.S.
Clean Air Act subsections 216 (10) and (11) exclude engines and vehicles “used solely for competition” from nonroad engine and nonroad vehicle regulations. In the proposal we stated that in previous nonroad engine emission-control programs, we have generally defined the term as follows:
Used solely for competition means exhibiting features that are not easily removed and that would render its use other than in competition unsafe, impractical, or highly unlikely.
Most motorcycles marketed for competition do not appear to have obvious physical characteristics that constrain their use solely to competition. In fact, they are usually sold by dealers from the showroom floor. Upon closer inspection, however, there are several features and characteristics for many competition motorcycles that make recreational use unlikely. For example, motocross bikes are not equipped with lights or a spark arrester, which prohibits them from legally operating on public lands (such as roads, parks, state land, and federal land).\51\ Vehicle performance of modern motocross bikes is so advanced (for example, with extremely high power-to-weight ratios and advanced suspension systems) that it is highly unlikely that these machines will be used for recreational purposes. In addition, motocross and other competition off-highway motorcycles typically do not come
with a warranty, which further deters purchasing and using competition bikes for recreational operation.\52\ We believe these features are sufficient in distinguishing competition motorcycles from recreational motorcycles. Therefore, we are specifically adopting the following features as indicative of motorcycles used solely for competition: absence of a headlight or other lights; the absence of a spark
arrester; suspension travel greater than 10 inches; an engine displacement greater than 50 cc; absence of a manufacturer warranty; and the absence of a functional seat.
Manufacturers must specifically request and receive an exemption from EPA to sell off-highway motorcycles without a certificate under the competition exemption. Vehicles not meeting the applicable criteria listed above will be exempted only in cases where the manufacturer has clear and convincing evidence that the vehicles for which the exemption is being sought will be used solely for competition. Examples of this type of evidence may be technical rationale explaining the differences between a competition and non-competition motorcycle, marketing and sales information indicating the intent of the motorcycle for competition purposes, and survey data from users indicating the competitive nature of the motorcycle.
Although there are several features that generally distinguish competition motorcycles from recreational motorcycles, several parties have commented that they believe motorcycles designed for competition use are also used for recreational purposes, rather than solely for competition. This is of particular concern because competition motorcycles represent about 29 percent of total off-highway motorcycle sales or approximately 43,000 units per year. However, a study on the characterization of off-highway motorcycle usage found that there are numerous–and increasingly popular–amateur off-highway motorcycle competitions across the country, especially motocross.\53\ The estimated number of off-highway motorcycle competitors is as high as 80,000. Since it is very common for competitive riders to replace their machines every one to two years, the sale of 43,000 off-highway competition motorcycles appears to be a reasonable number, considering the number of competitive participants. We are therefore confident that, although we are excluding a high percentage of off-highway motorcycles as being competition machines, the criteria laid out above are indicative of motorcycles used solely for competition.
However, we do recognize that it is possible that some competition motorcycles will be used for recreational purposes. We are therefore adopting a provision within the regulations that allows the Agency to deny a manufacturer’s claim for exemption from the standards for any models, including models that meet the six specified criteria, where other information is available that indicates these off-highway motorcycle models are not used solely for competition. This same provision allows the Agency to deny claims for exemptions in later years even if they had been granted previously. Examples of this type of information can be state registration data that indicate a significant number of competition exempt models being registered to operate on public lands. Off-highway competition motorcycles designed for motocross competition are not typically required to be registered with states, since most motocross competitions occur on closed-circuit courses on private, not public land, and motocross machines lack spark arresters which are required to operate on public land. We believe the
possibility of losing an exemption for competition motorcycles will encourage manufacturers to take proper actions in promoting, marketing, and guaranteeing that competition machines are sold to those
individuals who will use them solely for competition.
C. Emission Standards
1. What Are the Emission Standards and Compliance Dates?
a. Off-highway motorcycles. We are adopting HC plus NOX and CO standards for off-highway motorcycles. We expect the largest benefit to come from reducing HC emissions from two-stroke engines. Two-stroke engines have very high HC emission levels. Baseline NOX levels are relatively low for engines used in these applications and therefore including NOX in the standard serves only to cap NOX emissions for these engines.
Comparable CO reductions can be expected from both two-stroke and four-stroke engines, as CO levels are similar for the two engine types. We are also adopting averaging, banking and trading provisions for off-highway motorcycles, as discussed below.
In the current off-highway motorcycle market, consumers can choose between two-stroke and four-stroke models in most sizes. Each engine type offers unique performance characteristics. Some manufacturers specialize in two-stroke or four-stroke models, while others offer a mix of models. The HC standard is likely to be a primary determining factor for what technology manufacturers choose to employ to meet emission standards overall. HC emissions can be reduced substantially by switching from two-stroke to four-stroke engines. Four-stroke engines are very common in off-highway motorcycle applications.
Approximately 55 percent of non-competition off-highway motorcycles are four-stroke. Certification results from California ARB’s emission-control program for off-highway motorcycles, combined with our own baseline emission testing, provides ample data on the emission-control capability of four-stroke engines in off-highway motorcycles. Off-highway motorcycles certified to California ARB standards for the 2000 model year have HC certification levels ranging from 0.4 to 1.0 g/km. These motorcycles have engines ranging in size from 48 to 650 cc; none of these use catalysts.
The emission standards for off-highway motorcycles take effect beginning in the 2006 model year. We will allow a phase-in of 50-percent implementation in the 2006 model year with full implementation
in 2007. These standards apply to testing with the highway motorcycle Federal Test Procedure (FTP) test cycle. For HC+NOX emissions, the standard is 2.0 g/km (3.2 g/mi). For CO emissions, the standard is 25.0 g/km (40.5 g/mi). Both of these standards are based on averaging with a cap on the Family Emission Limit (FEL) of 20 g/km for HC+NOX and 50 g/km for CO. Banking and trading provisions are also included in the program, as described in Section III.C.2.
These emission standards allow us to set near-term requirements to introduce the low-emission technologies for substantial emission reductions with minimal lead time. We expect manufacturers to meet these standards using four-stroke engines with some low-level modifications to fuel-system calibrations. These systems are similar to those used for many years in highway motorcycle applications, but with less overall sophistication for off-highway applications.
We received comments from several states and environmental groups encouraging us to harmonize our off-highway motorcycle standards with California. The comments focused on the perceived difference in stringency between the two programs. For California, the standard is an HC-only standard of 1.2 g/km. Our standard is a HC+NOX standard of 2.0 g/km. We believe it is prudent to set a HC+NOX standard in lieu of a HC-only standard since the main emission-control strategy is expected to be the use of four-stroke engines in lieu of two-stroke engines. Two-stroke engines emit extremely low levels of NOX. Four-stroke engines, on the other hand, have higher NOX emission levels, in the range of 0.3 g/km on average. This is part of the reason why we proposed a somewhat higher numeric standard compared to California.
The California standards, which were adopted in 1994, were stringent enough that manufacturers were unable to certify several models of off-highway motorcycles, even some with four-stroke engine
technology. The result was a substantial shortage of products for dealers to sell in California. The shortage led California to change their program to allow manufacturers to sell noncompliant off-highway motorcycles under some circumstances. As a result, approximately a third of the off-highway motorcycles sold in California are compliant with the standards. The uncertified models being sold in California include both two-stroke and four-stroke machines.
EPA received comments from dealers and consumers concerned that a similar shortage could arise nationwide if EPA adopted the California standards. EPA shared this concern and proposed standards that were somewhat less stringent than that of California, based on test data from high-performance four-stroke machines. We are finalizing this approach to ensure the four-stroke technology can be implemented broadly across the product line in the 2006 time-frame. Although the approach we are finalizing contains somewhat less stringent standards than the California program, we believe it will achieve reductions beyond that of the California program because more products will be certified (even when the competition exemption is taken into account).
The vast majority of the HC reductions achieved by the program come from shifting away from conventional two-stroke engines which have HC emissions levels in the range of 35 g/km. The 2.0 g/km standard represents about a 95-percent reduction in emissions for these vehicles.
If we were to go beyond this level of reduction, manufacturers would need to employ on a widespread basis additional technology that presents significant technical issues concerning their application to off-highway motorcycles given their extreme usage patterns and issues such as safety, packaging, and weight. For example, technologies such as electronic fuel injection and secondary air injection raise concerns about their durability and reliability in the harsh operating environments to which off-highway motorcycles are sometimes exposed.
