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RVIA Addresses CARB’s Small Off-Road Engine Regulations

Last week, the RV Industry Association (RVIA) sent a letter to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) seeking a distinction between fixed-mount stationary generators used in RVs and portable generators. They’re the main focus of the Board’s recently approved regulation on small-off-road engines (SORE), as per an RVIA News & Insights report.

The recently approved SORE Regulation covers the engines that power RV generators must be emission-free before 2028. It will impose new evaporative emission standards starting in the model year 2024.

Photo courtesy of RV Industry Association

Although CARB believes that the ban will push companies to create zero-emission solutions, at this moment, it’s considered not technologically practical or economically viable, RVIA said.

RVIA formed a coalition of manufacturers, suppliers, and dealers that testified before CARB in the December 2021 hearing to voice their protest against the rule.

Despite the efforts to exempt RV generators from regulation, the 2028 ban has been approved by the Board as proposed by CARB staff. CARB acknowledged in its approval process that the ban poses problems for the RV industry.

As expected, the ban is already harming the industry. Earlier this month, Cummins, the supplier of most RV generators, wrote to RV manufacturers warning them that they are likely to not have any gas-powered generators in 2024 which would be able to meet the requirements of the new CARB standard.

Diesel generators weren’t included in the rule and won’t be affected. It means that RV manufacturers will never be able to ship RVs equipped with gas-powered generators to dealers located in California to be sold in the state. California residents who want to buy an RV equipped with generators would have to purchase one in other states.

In the most recently sent letter to CARB, RVIA reiterated its request for CARB Staff to make an effort to distinguish stationary fixed-mount generators in RVs from portable generators that were the primary subject of the regulatory action.

The association also recommended that these fixed-amount RV generators be granted more time to comply with the 2024 and 2028 standards.

They asked that fixed mount generators’ conformity with the MY 2024 standards be postponed to MY 2028. The compliance with zero emissions standards is to be delayed until the year 2035 unless the planned technology review indicates that affordable zero-emissions systems for the RV sector will be readily available at an earlier date.

For more information on this issue, contact RV Industry Association Director of State Government Affairs, Mike Ochs, at [email protected].

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Hi, you might find this article from Modern Campground interesting: RVIA Addresses CARB’s Small Off-Road Engine Regulations! This is the link: https://moderncampground.com/usa/california/rvia-addresses-carbs-small-off-road-engine-regulations/