Status of the legislative process
After several years of extensive deliberations within the European Union (EU) on the possible content of Euro 7, a provisional agreement was reached following numerous discussions. The result of this agreement was published on 21 December 2023 in the form of a “Proposal for a Regulation on type-approval of motor vehicles and engines and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles, with respect to their emissions and battery durability (Euro 7)”
The entry into force of the Regulation is still subject to formal approval by the EU Council and the EU Parliament, which is however expected to be granted in the first quarter of 2024.
In terms of timeline, the current proposal provides for Euro 7 to be applied in stages after its entry into force as follows (Art. 20):
- For passenger cars and light-duty vehicles (categories M1 and N1)
- new type vehicles after 30 months
- new vehicles after 42 months
- For heavy-duty vehicles and trailers (categories M2, M3, N2, N3, O3 and O4)
- new type vehicles after 48 months
- new vehicles after 60 months
Scope of application and contents
Euro 7 is to be applied regardless of the type of drive (petrol, diesel, electric or other fuels) and it is to regulate the emissions standards for passenger cars and light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles in a single Regulation for the first time.
The content of the Euro 7 proposal includes the following:
- Contrary to many expectations, the previous pollutant limits and test conditions for passenger cars and light-duty vehicles have not been adjusted. Only the upper limit of the permissible particle diameter has been reduced (PN10 instead of PN23).
- The pollutant limits for heavy-duty vehicles were reduced (NOx limit of 200 mg/kWh in the laboratory and 260 mg/kWh in real driving conditions). However, the test conditions were also retained here.
- For the first time, Euro 7 now also sets limits for particulate emissions from tyres and brakes. For passenger cars and light-duty vehicles, these are generally 7 mg/km and 3 mg/km for pure electric vehicles. For heavy-duty vehicles, the limit is generally 11 mg/km and 5 mg/km for pure electric vehicles.
Changes to durability requirements
In addition to the changes to the emission values, the Euro 7 proposal provides for the previously applicable requirements regarding the limits for duration which must be met (so-called durability) to be extended. For passenger cars and light-duty vehicles, a durability of 200,000 kilometres or 10 years must be met. For heavy-duty vehicles, a durability of 375,000 kilometres or 10 years for a total mass of less than 7.5 tonnes and 875,000 kilometres or 15 years for a total mass of more than 7.5 tonnes must be met. In all cases, the occurrence of the earlier event is decisive.
For the first time, the proposal provides for durability requirements for the batteries of electric and hybrid vehicles. The following limits are to apply to the storage capacity of transaction batteries (also known as “traction batteries”), for which the earlier of the two dates is decisive:
- For passenger cars (category M1): From the start of life
- to 100,000 kilometres or 5 years thereafter, not less than 80 % and
- to 160,000 kilometres or 8 years thereafter, not less than 72 %.
- For light-duty vehicles (category N1): From the start of life
- to 100,000 kilometres or 5 years thereafter, not less than 75 % and
- to 160,000 kilometres or 8 years thereafter, not less than 67 %.
Environmental vehicle passport and access to information
Furthermore, according to the proposal, an environmental vehicle passport is to be made available for each vehicle, containing information on environmentally relevant data at the time of registration (e.g. limits for pollutants, fuel and power consumption, electric range, battery life/durability).
In addition to on-board diagnostics (OBD) systems, vehicles should also be equipped with mandatory on-board monitoring (OBM) systems in future and allow users to access up-to-date vehicle information, such as on fuel consumption, battery status and pollutant emissions, at any time via the vehicle’s own systems.
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