Meijer, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer, has ordered 40 EPA 2010 Freightliner Cascadia trucks equipped with Detroit Diesel DD13 engines with the new BlueTec emissions technology
. This is Daimler Trucks North America's first fleet order for the U.S. EPA 2010 trucks.

Daimler Trucks and DTNA have invested more than $2 billion toward the development and commercialization of the new Detroit Diesel engine family, BlueTec emissions technology and the modernization of Detroit Diesel's engine production facilities. Introduced in 2008, the DD13 was designed to meet current and future emission regulations while reducing fuel consumption and dependence on foreign oil.

Like all 2010 selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems, Detroit Diesel's BlueTec technology will require diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), a solution of two-thirds pure water and one-third automotive-grade urea, to treat exhaust gases downstream of the engine. The DEF reacts with smog-forming nitrogen oxide in an SCR catalyst, reducing the NOx released into the air into nitrogen and water, safe elements in the air we breathe.

For 2010 heavy-duty on-highway trucks, like those purchased by Meijer, BlueTec is packaged in a proprietary 1-Box system that combines SCR technology with the diesel oxidation catalyst and the diesel particulate filter.

The first delivery of the trucks is expected to take place in the fourth quarter of this year.

Meijer, which operates 189 supercenters throughout the Midwest, is an EPA SmartWay award-winning retailer.