Particulate matter emissions from U.S. gasoline light-duty vehicles and trucks

New analysis, utilizing existing real-world emissions data from the TRUE U.S. database, reports a direct correlation between gasoline direct injection (GDI) vehicles and rising tailpipe particulate matter (PM) emissions across light-duty vehicles and trucks.

Findings suggest that, at the fleet level, the trend of decreasing average PM emissions from gasoline vehicles has not been sustained over time and that progress has been nearly erased with newer model year vehicles. UV smoke levels, used as a proxy for PM emissions in this study, begin to increase starting at model year 2015 and continue to rise through model year 2020. Comparatively, the average CO, HC, and NO emissions in each model year show clear and consistent downward trends.

These emissions, which pose a significant environmental health hazard, contribute to increased rates of respiratory and cardiovascular disease. The impacts are most pronounced for communities near high-traffic areas and contribute to inequitable health outcomes. Adoption of gasoline particulate filters (GPF), which could reduce PM emissions by 97%–100% compared to non-GPF equipped vehicles, would help to counteract the observed increase in PM emissions from gasoline vehicles across the U.S. fleet.

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