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AFV Categories There are many terms in use for the many levels of emission produced by green vehicles. To make things even more confusing, the emission standards are broken down into Federal and Californian standards, providing even more categories. An important note to consider is that a car does not need to use an alternative fuel to fit some of these classifications, if the level of emissions produced is low enough.
General CFV: Clean Fuel Vehicle- Any vehicle certified by the EPA as meeting certain Federal emissions standards. The five categories of Federal CFVs, from least to most stringent, are TLEV, LEV, ULEV, ILEV and ZEV. CFV exhaust emissions standards for light-duty vehicles and light-duty trucks are numerically identical to those of the California Air Resources Board's Low Emission Vehicle Program. FFV: Flexible Fuel Vehicle that can run on a varying mixture of two fuels, such as ethanol and gasoline.
Federal Standards Tier 1: The current federal tailpipe standards for passenger cars and light trucks. Under this program there is one emission category (called the Tier 1 category), but SUVs, minivans, pickup trucks, and diesel vehicles are allowed to pollute more than gasoline cars. Tier 2: A fleet averaging program, modeled after the California LEV II standards. Manufacturers can produce vehicles with emissions ranging from relatively dirty to zero, but the mix of vehicles a manufacturer sells each year must have average NOx emissions below a specified value. This provides automakers with flexibility for meeting the standards and is a cost-effective method of reducing overall pollution from automobiles. NLEV: National Low-Emission Vehicle Program. It is the same as the California LEV program (see below), with two notable differences. NLEV reduces emissions from cars and the lightest trucks, but the standards for bigger SUVs and pickup trucks remained unchanged. NLEV does not include a zero-emission vehicle sales requirement. ILEV: Inherently low emission vehicle, a federal EPA designation that indicates a clean air vehicle that remains clean even if certain emission control devices on the vehicle fail or malfunction.
Californian Standards LEV: Low emission vehicle program under the California Emission Standard. It is within this program that the TLEV, ULEV, SULEV, and ZEV standards fall under. LEV II: Low emission vehicle program under the California Emission Standard that is more stringent their the original LEV program, and any light truck loopholes are removed.. The names of the standards within this program are LEV, ULEV, SULEV, and ZEV. SULEV: Super ultra-low emission vehicle. A California Emission Standard. By definition, a vehicle meeting the SULEV standard for its type and class also meets the corresponding ULEV standard. TLEV: Transitional Low Emission Vehicle. Tight standards that allow leeway for slightly more pollution as the car gets older.
ULEV:
Ultra-Low Emission
Vehicle. A California Emission Standard, and the least
clean vehicle to qualify for this program.
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