New Diesel testing Requirements for vehicles go into force as of 1st of September 2017
During the 90-minute test, vehicles will have emissions testing equipment attached to the exhaust pipe, and they must pass before they are approved to go on the market. The vehicles will have to do an almost equal driving time within the city, countryside and motorway.
The new tests come in light of the 2015 European wide investigations when large discrepancies were found between lab tests and real like emissions for 30 car manufactures, for Euro Diesel models ranging from 1 to 6. The report published by the European Parliament’s inquiry committee (EMISA) found that today’s Euro 6 diesel cars were emitting from 6 to up to 22 times more nitrogen dioxide in the real world than in the laboratory tests.
The new tests will become mandatory from September 2017 for all new car models and will be phased in for all new cars between 2018-2019 (for details see MEMO/17/2821)
While an important step forward, it’s worth noting that alone, these tests do not solve the problem of air pollution and gradual replacement of the vehicle fleet with alternative fuelled cars can have a marked impact on improving air quality in cities.