ORLANDO, FL– Detroit Diesel announced that it has completed 12 million miles of testing on its BlueTec Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology, including its third year of engineering testing in some of the harshest of winter environments possible. By its roll out January 1, 2010, the Detroit Diesel BlueTec technology will surpass 25 million miles of testing making it one of the most proven and tested emissions reduction technologies ever, according to the manufacturer.

Detroit Diesel’s BlueTec technology — a North American version of Daimler’s widely acclaimed emissions reduction system — was selected by the company in 2005 to meet the upcoming EPA 2010 emissions standards of near-zero levels of NOx (0.20 g/hp-hr) for heavy-duty trucks — one of the most stringent standards in the world.

BlueTec represents the latest innovation in clean diesel engine technology to be fully-developed and commercialized. “We are pleased to have taken full advantage of our early choice of SCR as the best technology for our customers for 2010.

This has allowed Detroit Diesel and Daimler Trucks North America to not only have an extended period of time for system design and performance refinement but also to gain significant testing and validation experience.

The 2010 BlueTec technology will be one of most extensively tested emissions technology system in our company’s history,” said David Siler, director of marketing, Detroit Diesel Corporation. “Our early technology choice has allowed us to finalize our production-intent designs early on thus enabling us to conclusively demonstrate the performance, durability, and effectiveness of our BlueTec technology on production designs and over the extended life-cycle demands of our customers.”

BlueTec will incorporate the enhanced performance of Detroit Diesel’s recently introduced DD15, DD13, and soon-to-debut DD16 engines, as well as the already proven ACRS fuel system and an integrated engine-compression brake.

Detroit Diesel’s BlueTec technology includes a unique one-box packaging design optimized for low back-pressure and an all-new, robust DPF material.

The BlueTec SCR NOx aftertreatment system will utilize diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) and has been fully optimized for low emissions and high fuel economy.

“We are meeting our program goals for performance and emissions, fuel economy, durability, and reliability.

Our current projections are showing up to 5 percent diesel fuel economy improvement, and up to 3 percent net improvement with our BlueTec equipped engines compared to today’s engines,” said Rakesh Aneja, EPA 2010 program manager, Detroit Diesel.

“In cooperation with our vehicle colleagues at Daimler Trucks North America, we have had the opportunity to test our 2010 BlueTec system under diverse ambient and environmental conditions, operating conditions, and routes.

The results of our validation testing are very pleasing.

We remain extremely excited about the prospect of our 2010 BlueTec technology offering a paradigm shift to our customers in 2010, with simultaneous reduction of fuel consumption, emissions and CO₂, compared to today’s EGR-only vehicles.”

BlueTec symbolizes Daimler’s commitment to meet today’s environmental challenges, while also offering exemplary performance and fuel economy. Since adapting the technology in early 2005, Daimler has delivered more than 200,000 trucks and buses around the world utilizing BlueTec.

“Recent studies show the rest of the North American truck and engine marketplace of truck fleets and owner/operators are beginning to understand and prefer the benefits we saw several years ago. Once they have the facts, they favor SCR technology two to one as their choice to competitively meet the EPA 2010 emissions targets,” said Siler. “It was only a matter of time before customers would demand improved fuel economy as well as clean emissions.

SCR is the only proven technology that offers both.”

“Nearly 100 percent of all big bore engines in production today for the U.S. and Canada that will be manufactured after January 1, 2010 will utilize SCR technology.” Detroit Diesel’s BlueTec technology is modular and will be adaptable for use in over the road and vocational applications making it not only cost effective, but simple and highly adaptable to a range of operating conditions.