The City of Culver City has set an example for other fleet operations in the State by adopting alternative fuel strategies and applying advanced technologies since 1996 in accordance with early South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) air quality mandates. In addition, Culver City has met on-road diesel retrofit requirements prior to required timelines and has replaced 90% of its heavy-duty fleet, including a 52-bus transit fleet, with CNG from petroleum-based fuels over the past 12 years. The Showcase Program for off-road construction equipment was another opportunity for Culver City to be included in the forward-thinking development of technologies for reducing emissions and pollutants in the region.
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Over many months, numerous attempts were made to coordinate inspection, design and installation of the devices for all vehicles. During the course of technical developments it was determined that the first authorized manufacturer, Dinex, could not deliver the retrofit device noted in the contract. Thus, DCL America, Inc. became the final provider of the diesel particulate filter (DPF) technology for both units 4506 and 4516. Contract timelines were extended under three (3) Contract Amendments, as follows: Amendment A dated May 7, 2009: modified DPF device and reduced project value for unit 4516; Amendment B dated February 2, 2010: extended contract period from February 4, 2010 to April 3, 2010; Amendment C dated March 30, 2010: extended contract period from April 4, 2010 to August 3, 2011. As of this writing, the final designated vendor/manufacturer for the third unit, Nett-Tech, has not yet provided the DPF for unit 4509. That portion of this project is associated with a separate AQMD contract.
On June 27, 2007, Culver City submitted an application to participate in the MSRCs Off-road Diesel Construction Equipment Retrofit Demonstration Program through PA2007-11. As a municipal fleet with three (3) off-road loaders, the City was awarded the following allocations: By the MSRC Contract MS07072: Unit #4506 Caterpillar 966F Loader $21,465.00 Unit #4516 Caterpillar 962H Loader $51,400.00 (final adjusted value) By the AQMD Contract 08252: Unit #4509 Caterpillar 924G Loader $38,900.00 The final total cost of each project was agreed to be reimbursed directly to the manufacturer providing the device technology.
Unit #4506 Caterpillar 966F Loader: The manufacturers device (DLT5 MINE-X SootFilter) was installed on August 11, 2009 by Ironman, Inc., but the filter became plugged within a week. It was determined the device was non-serviceable and opted to remove it. They determined that there was no failure to the unit it did what it was supposed to do, but the equipment rejected the device. Due to the short length of time the device was installed, data logging information was not collected. Unit #4516 Caterpillar 962H Loader: The manufacturers device (DLT4.9 MINE-X SootFilter) was installed on June 23, 2010 by DCL America, Inc. A Showcase Program representative from the AQMD was on-site during the installation of the device on this unit. The vehicle has continued in its normal duty cycle since that time. Currently the device is working as designed, without any issues since its installation. Data logging is performed through DCL; they have retrieved that data once, approximately ten days after the unit was returned to service. A representative from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) was recently on-site on December 15, 2010, collecting additional data from this unit.