During 2016, a number of important changes to the EU emissions requirements applicable to light duty vehicles were agreed and adopted. These included the replacement of the New European Drive Cycle (NEDC) with the Worldwide Harmonised Light Duty Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP), the introduction of a new evaporative emissions test procedure and the extension of the Real Driving Emissions (RDE) requirements to cover the measurement of particulate number (PN) emissions. Therefore, the official publication of the new EU Regulations introducing these changes has been eagerly anticipated for many months and, on 7th July 2017, the relevant EU Regulations were finally published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
In total, five new EU Regulations were published on 7th July 2017. These new Regulations are as follows:
Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1221
This Regulation amends the existing EU Implementing Regulation on light duty vehicle emissions, (EC) No. 692/2008, to introduce a revised evaporative emissions test procedure. This revised test procedure increases the test duration from 24 hours to 48 hours, requires an "aged" carbon canister to be fitted for the test and introduces a new test for fuel tank permeability. Compliance with this revised evaporative emissions test procedure becomes mandatory for all new light duty vehicles fitted with a petrol (gasoline) engine that are first registered from 1st September 2019.
Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1151
This Regulation is the new EU Implementing Regulation on light duty vehicle emissions that will repeal and replace (EC) No. 692/2008. This new Regulation specifies the use of the Worldwide Harmonised Light Duty Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) in place of the New European Drive Cycle (NEDC) and includes all of the necessary test procedures, measurement procedures, test equipment calibration requirements, etc. to cover this. Furthermore, as this new Regulation will repeal and replace (EC) No. 692/2008, it also includes all of the other emissions requirements that were covered by that Regulation, e.g. idle CO2 testing, access to repair and maintenance information, engine power testing, etc. All of these requirements are carried over from the latest version of (EC) No. 692/2008, including the real driving emissions (RDE) requirements that were introduced by (EU) 2016/427 and (EU) 2016/646 and the revised evaporative emissions test procedure introduced by (EU) 2017/1221.
The dates from which compliance with this new Implementing Regulation become mandatory are specified in the table below:
| New type approvals | All new vehicles | |
|---|---|---|
|
M1 and M2 category vehicles, and N1 category vehicles of Class I (i.e. reference mass ≤ 1305 kg) e.g. passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, minibuses, car derived vans and small pick-up trucks |
1st September 2017 | 1st September 2018 |
|
N1 category vehicles of classes II and III (i.e. reference mass > 1305 kg) and N2 category vehicles e.g. vans, large pick-up trucks and light trucks |
1st September 2018 | 1st September 2019 |
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1152
This is a new Implementing Regulation relating to EU Regulation No. 510/2011 on the average CO2 emissions targets for light commercial vehicles. This new Implementing Regulation specifies a methodology for the correlation of the CO2 emissions figures measured during WLTP testing and those measured during NEDC testing. This correlation is necessary to determine light commercial vehicle manufacturer's compliance with the NEDC based average CO2 emissions targets specified in (EU) No. 510/2011 for vehicles whose CO2 emissions have been measured using the WLTP test procedure.
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1153
This is a new Implementing Regulation relating to EU Regulation No. 443/2009 on the average CO2 emissions targets for passenger cars. This new Implementing Regulation specifies a methodology for the correlation of the CO2 emissions figures measured during WLTP testing and those measured during NEDC testing. This correlation is necessary to determine passenger car manufacturer's compliance with the NEDC based average CO2 emissions targets specified in (EU) No. 443/2009 for vehicles whose CO2 emissions have been measured using the WLTP test procedure.
Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1154
This Regulation amends Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1151 to introduce the "third package" of requirements on real driving emissions (RDE). This "third package" extends the RDE requirements to cover the measurement of particulate number (PN) emissions during RDE testing and revises the RDE test procedure to include the "cold start" emissions, i.e. the emissions that occur during the first five minutes following a "cold start", in the emissions evaluation for the complete test. It also introduces new and revised requirements to allow for the RDE testing of hybrid vehicles and vehicle equipped with periodically regenerating systems, and clarifies the application of the RDE testing to "small volume" and "ultra-small volume" manufacturers.
This Regulation entered into force on 27th July 2017. Therefore, from that date, new type approvals will only be issued to vehicles types which have been subjected to RDE testing in accordance with the requirements specified in this Regulation.
Note: On 24th July 2017, another EU Regulation on light duty vehicle emissions was published. This Regulation, Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1347, further amends Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1151 to correct a number of errors and oversights.