Q&A with Volvo’s Powertrain Chief on D13, EPA 2027 and more

May 5, 2026

Chris Clonts

SAE Media senior editor Chris Clonts had an exclusive opportunity at ACT 2026 to sit down with Volvo’s head of powertrain technology Mehdi Ferhan.

The talk of the day was EPA 2027 and its new NOx emission standard. Other topics in the free-ranging conversation included BEVs, hydrogen and current opportunities for engineers. The following was edited for length and clarity.

Chris Clonts: Your 2027-compliant D13 engine was ready very early, in the middle of last year. How big did you have to make the development team? Tell us about that development process.

Mehdi Ferhan: This EPA 2027 engine has been a long battle from a development standpoint. And of course, it has been also a long journey to understand what the authorities’ expectations are when it comes to the certification process. Back in September, we were still discussing the NOx emission threshold. Would it be 35? Would it be 65? Would it be 100 milligrams of NOx? And finally, it was set as 35, which for Volvo Group was very interesting because we were always preparing for that. And this is one of the most stringent emissions regulations in the world today. So for us, this journey started a couple of years ago. We decided as a company not to go to a full-blown reinvention of technologies, but rather to build on the existing building blocks and legacy technologies that the company has been investing in for many years.

CC: Right… adding a grid heater is not new technology.

MF: It’s known in the industry, but it’s always challenging when you have to make it operate with the best efficiency with new integration parameters on a new platform. So, there are always engineering challenges when it comes to mechanical, durability, integration, weight, cost, you name it. But we have decided, for example, to go with the full aftertreatment system integration of DEF dosing, specific catalyst aftertreatment, DPF [diesel particulate filters] and so on that we have been building for more than 10 years.

For us it means pushing the technology to another level to match with the 35-milligram challenge and to match also with the cold start and OBD monitoring requirements. So it has been really a lot of engineering challenges in different organizations. We have at Volvo Group a mixed footprint. We utilize the central and global competencies who work more on the platform on the long-term time frame. They are based in Europe. Most of them can be in Gothenburg and in other locations. We also have dedicated application engineering centers. [One is] in Maryland, where we have the biggest portion of our engineering competencies. We do all of the specification, certification and compliance assessments, and we also do a lot of testing, verification and validation of technology from the full system integrated on the truck. And we have a full vehicle propulsion lab. We named it the VPL. We have started this brand new facility more than a year ago.

And we started a new testing lab. It’s capable of the coldest weather on Earth, like an Arctic Circle type of environment. It’s also capable of extremely hot conditions, a Death Valley type of environment. It’s capable of dyno roll monitoring, emission monitoring with very precise onboard chromatography systems. This enabled us to test at full vehicle level the different components and features of the truck to match with the regulation standard. You mentioned the electric heaters. We utilize two of them. And we had to qualify them. [We also worked with] aftertreatment companies, command and control system companies, injection system companies, turbo compressor suppliers, and so on.

CC: You also changed the injectors to have finer control?

MF: We have refined it, and on top of the hardware adjustment, we have also worked a lot on calibration, on software-defined architecture to make sure that we can utilize the potential of the technology. It’s built to last at least 10 years. And then we see that particularly with the new onboard monitoring regulation, we have made a lot of effort to better integrate the hardware into the software.

CC: The regulations will keep getting tighter across the continents. Is that your next development step?

MF: The D13 platform is going to be upgraded for all our key global markets. Of course, North America, as I mentioned, with the EPA 2027 certification is really going to lead. But in Europe, in 2029, 2030, we will have the rollout of the Euro 7 emission standard. It will be an important improvement for the most stringent NOx level we have seen in Europe. And we try to leverage the 2027 EPA-compliant platform for application in other regions.

CC: Switching to BEVs, what is in development on that front?

MF: Volvo is really committed to be net zero [carbon emissions] by 2040. The company has been a leader in the game for several years. Right now, we have, for example, more than 750 trucks operating in North America with pure electric propulsion systems. They have gone more than 30 million miles, which means that we have a lot of data and knowledge about how customers use the trucks.

But of course, the market right now is a bit slow, so we have to be realistic and pragmatic. It means that we continue to harvest and develop strongly on the ICE side in order to cut CO2 emissions of the fleets and to help sustain profitability for operation of the truck. But at the same time, we have invested a lot in electric. We have been for the past few years the market leader in Europe when it comes to electric trucks sold. And we have also developed a stronger approach with what we call the long-range BEV platform.

CC: Hopping over to hydrogen, it feels like I've been writing the same story for three or four years, which is that hydrogen refuses to die, but grows ultra slowly. It seems like a very high hurdle to get to scale with hydrogen. So just talk about Volvo's philosophy there.

MF: I mean, we have to be humble in front of the market capacity to migrate to new technology. Hydrogen, first of all, is a well-known technology. It has been in the engineering communities, particularly in SAE circles for several decades. At Volvo Group, we have also invested jointly with Daimler Trucks in a joint venture called CellCentric, based in Germany, with whom we have made significant progress on the first generation of fuel cell systems in Europe. And we have announced the next-generation product, the BZA 375, which produces 375 kilowatts (507 hp). This will be, when it hits the market in a couple of years, the most outstanding hydrogen propulsion-based system that we believe can really be part of the game changers in the future when it comes to the propulsion infrastructure.

Volvo believes there is not one single or silver bullet to fit all customer needs and markets. So this is why we invest in the three-pronged approach and continue to believe in the long-term possibilities with hydrogen. This on paper makes a lot of sense. Now to translate that into business and profits is the challenge for the next decade.

CC: Regarding the 2027 NOx standard, the most stringent requirement yet, we don’t know what the political atmosphere will be like in a decade or more. Is there still more environmental efficiency that can be wrung out of diesel engines? Or would we require different tech at that point?

MF: That’s a great question for an engineer. What I can say is you never reach the end. The limit is the brain capacity to be innovative and creative and push the boundaries of technology. Of course, we see after one century of continuous optimization that to save now and to gain in fuel economy, in NOx emission, every single 0.1%, 0.2% is much more difficult to reach compared to before.

We are reaching kind of the plateau or the asymptote. But of course, this will never stop because from a customer standpoint, there is a huge expectation on fuel economy, particularly nowadays in a world governed by uncertainty, volatility of the prices in the market with oil, electricity access and infrastructure investments. So we have to continue and we will continue as a company and as an engineer-led organization to develop technologies further.

That means that from a career standpoint, for a young engineer joining the company today, you can learn about mechanical, combustion, aftertreatment, command and control systems, you name it. There is still room to nurture scientific knowledge to push the technology to another level.

CC: When you review your engineering career so far, was there a key moment when you knew you were in the right vocation? A particular project or anything you recall?

MF: No, but I mean, I think personally I’ve built this from the beginning with curiosity, an open mind, and open eyes as well as the will to continue to learn. I can say that in more than two decades of working on powertrains, I still learn every day. I learn when I meet a supplier, an engineer or business colleagues. Every time we talk about the possibilities of a technology, you grow as an individual and as an engineer. I have never spent a single week in my career being bored. It’s so exciting.

CC: What advice would you give engineers-to-be as far as what is most in need specifically for Volvo right now? Like where do you see a gap in applications versus need?

MF: It’s important to acknowledge that Volvo has a unique value set. This company really puts its heart in what it does in different markets. It’s about ambitions, it’s about building trucks to win, it’s about taking a leadership position in the marketplace. But it’s also about the sustainability journey, committing to the Paris Agreement, committing to net zero by 2040, which makes your daily work and engagement in the company part of aligning yourself with your personal value as a citizen, as a human being. [We see opportunities in] simulation, in testing, in the space of software-defined architecture, it can be, for instance, in artificial intelligence. And we have more advanced development methods like digital twins. So really, all types of engineers are welcome in the company right now.