The last Paris Climate Change Conference put vehicle emissions firmly back on the agenda. With world leaders gathering to negotiate tighter emissions targets for our planet, companies relying on and producing heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) took note. For almost three decades Europe has sought to control HDV emissions in a bid to protect human health and reduce greenhouse gases.
Emissions standards history
- Europe first introduced heavy-duty vehicle emission standards in 1988.
- The now familiar “Euro” standard was introduced in 1992 with increasingly stringent standards implemented every few years. Many countries have developed regulations that are closely aligned with these European standards.
- Euro I (1992) and Euro II (1996) applied to both truck engines and urban buses
- Euro III (2000), Euro IV (2005) and Euro V (2008) followed in succession, setting out stricter voluntary emission limits for extra low emission vehicles, known as Enhanced Environmentally Friendly Vehicles (EEVs)
- In 2001, the European Commission introduced a new directive prohibiting the use of emission defeat devices and “irrational” emission control strategies – the type of devices and strategies that have caused widespread concern following the VW emission test scandal last year
- In 2005, durability and on-board diagnostic (OBD) requirements were introduced for trucks driving in the EU
- Euro VI emission standards became effective from 2013/2014, and are comparable in stringency to the US 2010 standards. These latest Euro VI standards introduced particle number (PN) emission limits, stricter OBD requirements and a several new testing requirements, including in-use and off-cycle testing
