Actualités sur le rétrofit et la qualité de l’air en Europe

London Mayor proposes 'Ultra-Low Emission Zone'
22/02/2013

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has outlined his proposal for an ‘Ultra-Low Emission Zone’ to improve air quality. If the plan proceeds, only zero-and ‘low-emission’ vehicles would be allowed in the central London zone during working hours by 2020.
City Hall said the mayor recognised that more work was required on the proposal and believes it would act as a challenge for vehicle manufacturers to ensure more affordable low-emission technologies were in place. The mayor plans to introduce 1600 hybrid buses by 2016 and has also asked his team to look into designs for electric taxis.
However, the mayor also announced that Phase 5 of the current London-wide Low Emission Zone will now only apply to Transport for London (TfL) buses. Phase 5 had been planned to require all lorries, buses and coaches to meet Euro IV NOx levels from 2015, in addition to the current (Phase 4) requirement to meet Euro IV PM levels.

Czech Government approves Regulation on Low Emission Zones
08/02/2013

On 6 February 2013 the Czech government approved rules for the introduction of Low-Emission Zones that will allow municipalities to ban high-emission vehicles from entry within a year.

French Order on Retrofits with NO2 Limit
19/09/2012

On 19 September 2012, the French Ministry for Ecology, Sustainable Development, and Energy notified the European Commission of a new draft Order establishing installation and certification conditions for retrofit devices to reduce emissions of pollutants (NOx and/or particles) of compression-ignition engines of in use vehicles.
This Order implements the provisions of the decree of 3 May 2012 establishing the vehicles classification for Low Emissions Zones (see AECC News Vol 17 No 10). It is largely based on procedures being developed by the Geneva UNECE REC working group and will be replaced by the international Regulation when it is formally adopted in Geneva.
The Order covers existing vehicles of categories M2, M3, N2 and N3, and also vehicles of categories M1 and N1. It provides emissions requirements for the retrofit of Euro II, III, and IV base engines up to Euro III, IV, V, or EEV. In addition, retrofit to Euro III and IV levels require a minimum performance of 50% on PM and/or NOx reduction. Retrofits to Euro V and EEV require also a PM reduction >90% and/or NOx reduction >70%, according to the type of retrofit device installed. These efficiencies are to be measured on the ETC cycle.
The Order also introduces requirements on NO2 emissions. When the base engine NO2 emissions measured on ETC exceed 0.8 g/kWh, the retrofit device should not increase this level. Otherwise, an NO2 limit of 0.8 g/kWh applies after retrofitting.
Also ammonia emissions, in the case of a DeNOx retrofit, need to comply with maximum levels allowed in appropriate Euro legislations.

Czech Order on Classification of Vehicles for Low Emission Zones
04/06/2012

The Czech Republic has notified the European Commission of a new government order laying down the rules for Low Emission Zones (LEZ).
The order, in connection with provisions of the draft Act on air protection, governs the classification of motor vehicles into emissions categories identified in the Act, establishes technical specifications for the appearance of emission stickers including anti-forgery elements, their graphical appearance, rules for labelling of vehicles with emission stickers and details of their distribution and pricing.
Individual emission categories 1–4 are specified based on the type of Euro emissions limit values that the given vehicle meets. Vehicles in category 1 will not get a sticker. Stickers for category 2 will have a red background, category 3 yellow and category 4 green. Municipalities will have to specify in a municipal by-law which vehicle emissions categories may enter the Low-Emission Zone. Emission stickers will be universally valid within the entire Czech Republic, and will specify a vehicle’s emission category for assessment of whether conditions have been met for entry of the vehicle to any municipality that has declared an LEZ.

	Emission limit values	First registration of M1 or N1 vehicles	First registration of M2, M3, N2 or N3 vehicles
Diesel vehicles
Emission category 1	Vehicles meeting Euro 1 or earlier emissions limits.	before 1  January 1997	Before 1 October 1996
Emission category 2	Vehicles meeting Euro 2 emissions limits, or Euro 1 plus installed of a DPF.	from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2000	from 1October 1996 to 30 September 2001
Emission category 3	Vehicles meeting Euro 3 emissions limits, or Euro 2 plus installation of a DPF.	from 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2005	from 1 October 2001 to 30 September 2006
Emission category 4	Vehicles meeting Euro 4 emissions limits, or Euro 3 plus installation of a DPF.	from 1 January 2006	from 1 October 2006
Vehicles with SI engines
Emission category 1	Vehicles not meeting any Euro emissions limits.	Before 1 January 1993	Before 1 January 1993
Emission category 4	Vehicles meeting  Euro 1 emissions limits and better	From 1 January 1993

All category M and N vehicles with electric or hybrid propulsion, fuelled by LPG or CNG or biogas, or intended for fuelling with E85 are classed as emissions category 4.
Category L vehicles (motorcycles, etc.) with first registration prior to 1 January 1993 are classified into emission category 1, and those with first registration starting 1 January 1993 are classified into emission category 4.

More info: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tris/pisa/app/search/index.cfm?fuseaction=pisa_notif_overview&iYear=2012&inum=334&lang=EN&sNLang=EN

Austrian Restrictions on Operation of Older Non-Road Mobile Machinery
08/05/2012

On 27 April 2012, the Austrian Minister for Agriculture and Forestry, Environment and Water Management notified the European Commission of an Order restricting operation of Non-Road Mobile machinery in areas where air quality standards are not met.
The Order, taking effect on 1 October 2012, is a measure taken by Austria to keep within the obligatory emissions limit as set out in the EU Air Quality directive. It establishes that in areas where steps are being taken to bring the PM10 level in line with EU legislation (redevelopment areas), mobile technical installations, machinery and equipment which were either not regulated or subject to previous EU type approval regulations, are no longer permitted to be in use after a pre-established date.
Mobile technical installations, machinery and equipment which are fitted with a functional particle filter system are exempted though. The precise technical regulations are met by a range of particle filter systems, but only if the manufacturer is located in one of the following EU countries (see the VERT Filter List from July 2010): France, Italy, Denmark, UK, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland.

London Mayor announces Bus Retrofits
13/02/2012

The Mayor of London has announced a further programme of retrofits for buses in London.
A statement says that the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) have been trialling two types of technology fitted to bus exhausts to reduce either PM10 or NOx pollution. Results have shown significant reductions in emissions on buses piloting the equipment with PM10 reduced by 77% and NOx reduced by 88%. Following these successful trials, the Mayor has now confirmed the wider introduction of the technology. 155 buses will be the first to be fitted with equipment to cut particulate levels. The routes have been selected based on levels of current air quality. The equipment will start to be installed in March to complete by September this year. In addition, up to 1000 older buses are set to receive the NOx reducing equipment. This will be fitted to older Euro III buses to bring them to Euro IV NOx standards. This is the largest retrofit of this type of equipment in the UK. TfL will target around 50 bus routes where concentrations of NOx are highest, with the first converted buses expected by summer 2012 and TfL is currently in consultation with bus operators on finalising routes. Routes selected will include areas of high NO2 exceedences throughout London.
The statement says that the new equipment will cut NOx emissions from buses by around 400 tonnes – around 10% of all [London] bus NOx emissions.
In addition, a second 140 m2 green wall is set to be installed in central London helping to trap harmful road transport emissions. The initiatives are part of the Mayor's Clean Air Fund which has been financed by an initial £5 million (€6 million) from the Department for Transport (DfT) to deliver targeted local measures tackling PM10 and an additional £5 million from DfT that is to be matched by TfL funding.
In addition to these measures, the Mayor's ‘New Bus for London’ uses “the latest generation of green [hybrid] technology and emits less than half the NOx and PM emissions of a current diesel bus”. The Mayor's air quality strategy proposes that, subject to funding, all London buses should meet Euro IV standards for NOx by 2015. Currently, all 8500 London buses meet the Euro IV standard for PM (particulate matter) and are compliant with the next stage of Low Emission Zone requirements.

Swedish Requirements for Heavy-duty Retrofits
13/02/2012

Sweden has notified the European Commission of a proposed amendment to National Type Approval Regulations to introduce requirements for retrofit emissions control systems for heavy-duty vehicles.
The proposed amendment covers conversion of Euro II and Euro III vehicles to the Euro V standard, and sets the following conversion efficiencies when tested on the Euro V (ETC and ESC) tests:
Minimum conversion rate (%)     NOx     PM     HC     CO
Euro II base vehicle                   75       95      70      70
Euro III base vehicle                  70       90      50      50

On-road durability has to be demonstrated and warranted for 5 years. PEMS (Portable Emissions Measurement Systems) can be used to demonstrate durability. A dashboard indicator has to show a fault on the degree of reduction of NOx if it is less than 50% when the system has the correct operating temperature. There are also requirements for reagent tank level monitoring where a reagent is used for NOx control.

UK releases Final Report on Feasibility of a NOx Retrofit Certification Scheme
06/12/2011

On 24 November 2011 the UK’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) released the final version of their study investigating the feasibility of a NOx Retrofit Certification Scheme for heavy-duty vehicles.
The report is intended to present Defra and the Department for Transport (DfT) with evidence to help form a decision about establishing a national certification scheme. Details of the draft report were given in earlier news of 1 August 2011. The final version notes that a scheme incorporating certification to Euro V standards is potentially more ambitious than one certifying only to Euro IV but concerns exist for allowing multiple emissions standards as well as it being technically difficult to retrofit or adjust Euro IV vehicles to meet Euro V. It also notes that as a number of manufacturers provide devices that jointly abate NOx and PM, certification of devices for both pollutants could be beneficial.
Regarding the UNECE work on a Regulation for retrofit (REC), the final report notes that “Given that the UNECE Regulation is still being developed and there are uncertainties over timescales, abatement equipment suppliers have indicated that it could be advantageous for the UK to develop its own certification scheme and in parallel to take a lead in the UNECE discussions for finalising the Regulation, using the UK scheme to steer negotiations of the Regulation. However, representatives from the DfT have indicated that they do not expect it to be feasible to develop a UK scheme early enough in order to influence the UNECE decisions.”

More info: http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/reports/cat09/1111241413_29600_DeNOx_Final_Report_i4.pdf