ABSTRACT
Now that the immediate consequences of Dieselgate have been address through Real Driving Emissions, now is the time to reassess whether regulatory focus is in the correct place?
Post-Euro-6 emissions regulation should not become an unnecessary burden, but rather should focus on the emerging environment threats.
Beyond widening the measurement of particle number, what focus should be put on the composition of particles, and compounds carried on the surface of particles?
Ammonia emissions from the tailpipe are a part of this, in so far as they lead to secondary particle formation of a particular chemical make-up.
Nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, emitted at the tailpipe, may need to be regulated to avoid undermining carbon dioxide reductions, but evidence currently is limited.
Volatile organic compounds are of interest from several angles: vehicle interior air quality and the off-gassing from materials; tailpipe speciation of hydrocarbons including formaldehyde; and off-gassing from tyres.
Overall, a holistic view of pollutant emissions, carbon dioxide and fuel efficiency are needed.
Emissions Analytics runs a large independent test programme, covering hundreds of vehicles across three continents each year.
Data is analysed an available in a unique database that is accessed by a governments, industry, and others.
Emissions Analytics’ EQUA database contains a large amount of test data covering passenger cars, light commercial, heavy commercial and off-road.
To ensure environmental and health improvements, and to minimise unnecessary burdens on industry and consumers, it is necessary for regulation to be well focused and constructed. Therefore, new regulation should not just regulate what is easy measure or what has been addressed in the past. Rather, it is important constantly to reassess what new pollutants are growing in significance.
Emissions Analytics’ presentation looks at several pollutant sources that may need to be considered, supported by data from its independent, real-world EQUA test programme. The innovation will be not just from the on-road measurement techniques, but the methods that allow comparative results between different vehicles.
