ACEA

AIR QUALITY: Cost-effectiveness must guide progress

Europe's passenger car and commercial vehicle manufacturers have made significant progress in reducing pollutant exhaust pipe emissions. Over the last 25 years, they have cut nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions from cars and trucks by over 90%. Further progress should be obtained in a cost-effective manner, taking into account the interests of the consumer, the industry and society as a whole.

Emission Standards

The European automotive industry is committed to reducing pollutant elements from passenger cars and commercial vehicles and has actively participated in the deliberations with regulators over the next generation of “Euro” emissions standards. Euro 5 and 6 standards for passenger cars were agreed by the end of 2006, and will come into force in 2009 and 2014, respectively. The Euro V emissions standards for heavyduty commercial vehicles take effect in 2009, as well, while the Euro VI limit values for trucks are expected to be known by the end of 2007. Meeting the expected challenging limits will put to the test the world-leading technological innovation of Europe's automotive industry and must not be at the expense of the industry's competitiveness.

Euro 5 and 6

The new Euro 5 and 6 emissions standards for passenger cars will further reduce vehicle emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter. European car manufacturers are in the process of incorporating diesel particulate filters across the range of diesel vehicles, as required by Euro 5. They will also do their utmost to meet the strict limits regarding NOx emissions within the set timeframe. With Euro 5 and 6 coming into force, NOx levels for diesel cars will go down to 180 milligrammes per kilometre by 2009 and to 80 by 2014 respectively. For gasoline cars, the NOx level will fall to 60 milligrammes per kilometre in one step, by 2009. The industry remains concerned about measures that are not derived from a transparent impact assessment or proper cost-effectiveness analysis. The Euro 5 and

6 levels were supposedly based on the findings of the Clean Air for Europe (CAFE) Programme – the European Commission's strategy to address air pollution –, which was completed in 2005. However, despite cost-effectiveness being one of the basic principles of the CAFE Programme, no such analysis of these vehicle measures was undertaken within the programme.

Impact assessments

The lack of a proper impact assessment has led to a significant underestimation of Euro 5 and 6 related costs for manufacturers and consumers. The European Commission estimated in CAFE that Euro 5 and 6 would raise the cost of a diesel car by € 202. However, an independent panel set up by the European Commission concluded that the actual price of diesel cars will rise by up to € 900 as a result. This is certain to hit diesel car and light commercial vehicle sales. A market shift to gasoline cars will, in turn, have a significant impact on CO2 emissions (ACEA estimates an increase of 6%). This is in addition to the more obvious harm done to the competitiveness of Europe's diesel manufacturers. Assumptions by both the Commission (and the independent panel) for a drop in precious group metal (PGM) prices (an essential component of petrol and diesel exhaust catalysts) now also appear to be suspect based on forecast PGM market activity. This will contribute further to the underestimation of Euro 5 and 6 costs.



Had the Commission accepted the costeffectiveness analysis of the independent panel, it would have concluded that the proposed vehicle measures were not justified. As a result, the contribution from the road transport sector towards emissions reductions is actually greater than warranted. The CAFE Programme shows that, by 2020, even without Euro 5 and 6 limit values applied, passenger cars will be responsible for less than 5% of the total NOx emissions related to road transport. By that time, sources other than passenger cars (such as shipping, domestic heating, industrial processes) will become the main contributors to the emissions of air pollutants (see tables). As for particulate matter, road transport contributes much less than domestic heating, while heavy duty diesel engines are only responsible for 1% of primary PM.

Affordability

Thus, the environmental challenge becomes one of keeping vehicles affordable in order to promote faster fleet renewal, rather than mandating further reductions in emissions levels for new vehicles. This, along with the safety implications of an aging car fleet, is why affordability is one of the overriding concepts of CARS21*. A rapid replacement of older vehicles on the road with newer models meeting the Euro 4 norms will contribute more to reducing emissions levels than any further tightening of limits could achieve. This is especially true for gasoline cars and is supported by the findings of the CAFE Programme, which foresees a reduction in NOx and VOC emissions from gasoline vehicles of more than 90% by 2020, even without Euro 5. With an average vehicle age in some of the new EU Member States of 16 years, imposing costly requirementson new cars is clearly not the right way forward, since it does not help getting older cars off the road.

Biofuels

The European Commission is also looking at introducing alternative fuels, such as ‘biodiesel’ or ‘biopetrol’ (i.e. petrolethanolmix), as a further means to help reduce CO2. But the Commission's recent initiatives are cause for concern because of the hastiness of the approach and lack of broader coordination. The introduction of biofuels must be coordinated with manufacturers, in order to ensure that both old and new vehicles can use these fuels effectively. Vehicle manufacturers have to be able to design-in compatibility of new vehicles with biofuels which otherwise may pose a problem for engine components as well as particulate filters. The swapping of today’s fuel by tomorrow’s biofuel at the filling station must be avoided and new fuels need to be distributed separately and clearly labelled at filling stations to avoid confusion amongst consumers and damage to the existing car fleet. Coordination on the international level, with the aim of achieving common worldwide standards, is also essential.

Heavy-duty vehicles

The heavy-duty vehicle industry has been working with the Commission to achieve better regulation, cost-effectiveness, and international harmonisation (at the United Nations Economic Commission, or UN/ECE, level) with regard to emissions regulations. Thanks to their global technological lead, European truck makers succeeded in meeting the Euro IV standards, now in effect. This technological advantage will be even more important when it comes to finding innovative ways to meet Euro V standards in 2009.

With regard to Euro VI, the Commission must use the findings of the CAFE Programme as the basis for a proposal which is expected to be finalised during the course of 2007. It is also essential that the Commission bears in mind the CARS 21 recommendations, including the principles of better regulation, with the aim of achieving emissions standards at the global level, through UN/ECE in Geneva.

History and levels of Euro standards

  

    
Euro Standards 
    
Entry into force 
    
 
    
Emission limits 
    
 
    
 
  
  

    
 
    
New car types  
    
All new cars  
    
Petrol NOx  
     
Diesel NOx  
     
Diesel PM  
   
   

      
Euro 0 
      
1 Oct '91 
      
1 Oct '93 
      
1000 mg/km 
      
1600 mg/km 
      
(no limit) 
   
   

         
Euro 1 
         
1 Jul '92 
         
31 Dec '92 
         
490 mg/km 
         
780 mg/km 
         
140 mg/km 
   
   

         
Euro 2 
         
1 Jan '96 
         
1 Jan '97 
         
250 mg/km 
         
730 mg/km 
         
100 mg/km 
   
   

         
Euro 3 
         
1 Jan '00 
         
1 Jan '01 
         
150 mg/km 
         
500 mg/km 
         
50 mg/km 
   
   

         
Euro 4 
         
1 Jan '05 
         
1 Jan '06 
         
80 mg/km 
         
250 mg/km 
         
25 mg/km 
   
   

         
Euro 5 
         
1 Sep '09 
         
1 Jan '11 
         
60 mg/km 
         
180 mg/km 
         
5 mg/km 
   
   

         
Euro 6 
         
1 Sep '14 
         
1 Sep '15 
         
60 mg/km 
         
80 mg/km 
         
5 mg/km 
  

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