Heavy-Duty (HD) Vehicles Campaign

The three-week campaign focuses on evaluating emissions from heavy-duty vehicles through comprehensive measurements of gases, semivolatiles, particles, secondary aerosols and biological effects. The preparations for the campaign including truck rentals and preparation as well as sourcing different fuels and instruments installation took more than 9 weeks and involved 22 people. The HD campaign was led by Anssi Järvinen, VTT, with the strong support of Tampere University and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

This HD campaign aimed to shed light on secondary particulate emissions, particularly those formed after exhaust gas dilution in the atmosphere during cold and dark winter conditions—conditions whose impact on emissions is still not fully understood.

The measuring instruments were built in a sea container that is placed in the semi-trailer of the truck. Real-driving measurements with a large set of instruments in a sea container required extensive planning, design and logistics. Given that two trucks were used in the campaign, the measurement container had to be moved accordingly.

Key facts

Three weeks of campaign spread between Tampere and Lapland
Two rented trucks: Renault (new model) and Scania (old model)
Two types of diesel fuel tested: aromatic EN590 quality diesel and paraffinic HVO quality
Instruments installed in FMI’s measurement container
Organised by VTT, Tampere University and Finnish Meteorological Institute with other partners involved including BOSMAL, Institute of Experimental Medicine – Czech Academy of Sciences and Magellan Circle