Maryland cabs and other fleets of business vehicles may soon be able to skip their monthly trip to the state emissions-testing facility.
And someday, you might get the same benefit.
Photo Credit: Nicholas Griner Exhaustive work: Maryland drivers soon may be able to check their car emissions with this $50 dashboard-mounted transponder, held by Lothar Geilen, president of the Utah firm that’s making the devices and testing them on a fleet of Baltimore cabs. View Larger
In September, Maryland will begin a six-month test of technology that enables fleet vehicles to automatically check emissions and report the results to the vehicle’s owner and the Department of Environment. The trial will involve 125 vehicles at one Baltimore cab company.
The technology is similar to the E-ZPass electronic toll-collection system. A half-dollar size dashboard unit sends emissions data from a car's electronics to a radio-frequency receiver. Vehicle owners receive e-mail notifications of failures with suggested repairs and their cost. The receiver notifies the state when a vehicle returns to compliance.
The state is evaluating the technology for an emissions-compliance program that covers 20,000 fleet vehicles. Even though the trial is small, it could be expanded, and if successful, the technology might be made available over several years to all fleets.
"There's a lot of potential for businesses if it does work out," says Peggy Courtright, chief of certification and auditing for the Maryland Department of Environment. "I think a lot of businesses would benefit."
Officials in charge of emissions testing for individual car owners also are monitoring the trial.
Under the existing testing program, an employee of a company with a fleet must drive a car to a testing facility, putting both the car and driver off the clock. The test creates paperwork that companies must file with the state.
SysTech might also partner with a company to set up for the state the technology system that collects and analyzes data sent from the vehicles.
"We're not prepared to go out to Maryland and sell this ourselves," says SysTech President Lothar Geilen. "We need a technical support team."
Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality ran a 400-unit trial of the SysTech automatic emissions-testing technology in 2001. Geilen has continued discussions with Virginia officials, who are waiting to see the outcomes of pending trials in Oregon, California and Utah.
"They are kind of in a holding pattern," Geilen says. "They probably want to see, is this for real?"
Washington Business Journal - June 30, 2006 by Ben Hammer Staff Reporter
