New automotive emissions standards

[Piwoslaw]

In the eco-issue of Auto Motor i Sport I found an article on the new emissions standards that will come into effect in Europe within the next few years.

The European Union is at war with carbon dioxide emissions, and one of the battles is with the automotive industry. The new laws say that by 2012 65% of all new cars cannot produce more than an average of 130 grams of CO2 per kilometer, by 2013 this will be 75%, and 80% in 2014. In 2015 all new cars must have an average of 130 g/km. If they don't, the producer will pay large fees: If the CO2 emissions are 1 gram over the limit the fee is 5 Euros per car, 2g - 15Euros, 3g - 25Euros. For 4g and above the fee is 95Euros for every gram. The exact norm depends on vehicle weight (130g/km is for 1300kg, for 1100kg it's 120g/km and for 1500kg it's 140g/km), while "ecological" technologies (like LEDs and CO2-neutral A/C fillers) will reward the manufacturer a bonus of 7g for all cars.

The 2008 average for EU was 160g/km.

Even though air pollution is a global problem, there still are no universal emissions norms for all countries. An extreme example is the US, where two institutions, the Environmental Protection Agency EPA and the California Air Resources Board CARB, have two different emissions standards. Since the US is aiming at ozone-hole reduction, the emissions standards are targeting mainly hydrocarbons and NOx. Fuel consumption, which is proportional to CO2 emissions, seems to be of lesser importance. The American norms for CO2 are the same for both petrol and diesel engines, and aren't a problem for any EURO4 diesel. On the other hand, nitrogen oxide limits in the US and Japan don't give diesels a chance unless they have expensive catalitic converters.

The European norms are becoming more widespread: more or less advanced versions are now standard in many Asian, Pacific and South American countries.

Below is a table I scanned from the article. It shows NOx and particulate matter limits in Europe, US and Japan.
NOTE European and Japanese norms are in grams per kilometer, while American are in grams per mile.

[tjts1]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

The exact norm depends on vehicle weight (130g/km is for 1300kg, for 1100kg it's 120g/km and for 1500kg it's 140g/km), while "ecological" technologies (like LEDs and CO2-neutral A/C fillers) will reward the manufacturer a bonus of 7g for all cars.

I could see how this will encourage manufacturers to build vehicles that weight 1501kg, 1301kg and 1101kg. They'll probably add led weights rather than paying the CO2 fees.

[Big Dave]

I can see cars getting so complex and expensive that only the hyper-rich can afford them. We will all become like the Cubans - keeping fifty year old cars going because nobody can afford anything else.

BTW - CO2 has nothing to do with the ozone hole. That's CFCs. Another regulatory failure.

[cfg83]

Piwoslaw -

This is my favorite chart for NOx/PM emissions :



Basically, the USA, EU, and Japan are "converging on zero" aka very stringent emissions. The closer they get to being the same, along with the same type of diesel fuel, means the more diesels that can make the jump across the pond to the USA.

CarloSW2

[tasdrouille]

With the EPA recognizing CO2 as a pollutant, the historical bias favoring CO2 might change a bit. What I'm hoping for is stricter CO2 emissions in the States. Diesels currently have the edge in the states on the C02 front, and are pretty clean PM/NOX wise with all the new tech. So it might just be the push Diesel needs so gain more acceptance in the States.

[bgd73]

Originally Posted by Big Dave

I can see cars getting so complex and expensive that only the hyper-rich can afford them. We will all become like the Cubans - keeping fifty year old cars going because nobody can afford anything else.

BTW - CO2 has nothing to do with the ozone hole. That's CFCs. Another regulatory failure.

I completely coincide the ozone stuff with EGR (even the years of it peaking the ozone drama)...bad catalysts, and hermaphrodital paranoia at the source.....no forward, no backwards ..nothing at all until molecular/nuclear.
DANGER.

I just read about the rainforest. It concerns me. I know what the summer southern wind brings sometimes, I look forward to it...
Living in the north, living through thin air for six months at a time to the dead things called trees, sucking on the warm houses until the stinky spring epiphany when it spits our lung exhaust back out for that real nature given something to eat (co2) has returned in the spring...

why don't they replant the damn most important forest in the world?

Call it a bad crazy dream, call it what you will. I still got a car firing just once every stroke, for 23 years...original build... of course egr and japanese/california lunacy hacked off.
I would gladly pass it around the world for emissions checking.

WHEN is the lack of man going to end?

they wanna play with fire, they better let it burn dammit...REALTIME.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by tjts1

I could see how this will encourage manufacturers to build vehicles that weight 1501kg, 1301kg and 1101kg. They'll probably add led weights rather than paying the CO2 fees.

I'm not totally sure, but I think the scale is linear. That means that if the car is 5% heavier, then the mfg pays 5% more. Maybe rounding to the nearest 5 or 10kg.

[tjts1]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

I'm not totally sure, but I think the scale is linear. That means that if the car is 5% heavier, then the mfg pays 5% more. Maybe rounding to the nearest 5 or 10kg.

That makes more sense. I like the system they have setup in the UK where vehicle registration fee depends on the CO2 rating of the car. I don't think the government should legislate absolute CO2 limits for the manufacturers. Let the buyers pick and choose based on an established tax system. None of the European car makers offer a car get emits 130g/km in the US yet. They're just going to keep exporting their most polluting cars to other parts of the world while keeping the efficient versions in Europe.

[gone-ot]

...guess that makes 1970 a "vintage" year for pre-emissions automotive engineering!

[Piwoslaw]

I found some more info on European emssions standards. It turns out that each norm actually has two sets of limits: The amount that a newly produced car can emit (Homologation Emissions Limit HEL) and the amount that the car can emit once in normal operation (Operational Emissions Limit OEL).
The following table shows HEL/OEL in grams per kilometer:

Emissions norm	NMHC	THC	NOx	HC+NOx	CO	PM
EURO 3 petrol	---	0.2/0.4	0.15/0.6	---/---	2.3/3.2	---/---
EURO 4 petrol	---	0.1/0.4	0.08/0.6	---/---	1.0/3.2	---/---
EURO 5 petrol	0.068/0.25	0.1/---	0.06/0.3	---/---	1.0/1.9	0.005/0.05
EURO 5 petrol from 2013	0.068/0.25	0.1/---	0.06/0.3	---/---	1.0/1.9	0.0045/0.05*
EURO 3 diesel	---	---/---	0.5/1.2	0.56/---	0.64/---	0.05/0.18
EURO 4 diesel	---	---/---	0.25/1.2	0.3/---	0.5/---	0.025/0.18
EURO 5 diesel	---/0.32	---/---	0.18/0.54	0.23/---	0.5/1.9	0.005/0.05
EURO 5 diesel from 2013	---/0.32	---/---	0.18/0.54	0.23/---	0.5/1.9	0.0045/0.05

*) Petrol engines with direct fuel injection and part- or full-time lean burn

Legend: NMHC - Non-Methene Hydrocarbons
THC - Total Hydrocarbons
NOx - Nitrogen Oxides
CO - Carbon Monoxide
PM - Particulate Matter

Notice that EURO 3 and EURO 4 differ only in HEL, both have the same OEL. In other words, a EURO 4 vehicle may be just as dirty as a EURO 3, but the EURO 3 will have more restrictions in Germany's Umweltzones, for example.

The new EURO 6 standard, which will go into effect in September 2013 (type approval)/2014 (first registration) is still being revised, but two new limits for diesels are already known: NOx will be reduced from 180 to 80 g/km, and THC+NOx from 230 to 170 g/km.