How to make Euro 7 more effective: An analysis of the European Commission’s proposal for light- and heavy-duty vehicles

The European Commission has developed the new Euro 7 emissions standards to replace the currently separate emissions standards of Euro 6 for passenger cars and vans and Euro VI for trucks and buses. This paper analyses the regulatory changes included in the Euro 7 proposal, discusses the proposal’s shortcomings, and recommends improvements to the regulation.

The proposed Euro 7 regulation lacks ambition, especially for light-duty vehicles. For cars and vans, the proposal does not significantly increase the stringency of pollutant emission limits compared to Euro 6, nor does it widen the normal RDE boundary conditions. The proposal also fails to adjust the durability requirements to values representative of the useful life of vehicles in the European Union. To further strengthen the Euro 7 regulation and to bring it closer to the European Commission’s own impact assessment and its longer-term policy targets the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union should consider the improvements summarized below.

• Adjust the emission limits for light-duty vehicles to 30 mg/km for nitrogen oxides (NOx), 2 mg/km for particle mass, 400 mg/km for carbon monoxide (CO), 45 mg/km for non-methane organic gases (NMOG), and to 1.0e11 #/km for particle number.
• For cars and vans, introduce a combined methane (CH₄) + nitrous oxides (N₂O) limit of 45 mg/km and a formaldehyde (HCHO) limit of 5 mg/km.
• Limits for the voluntarily Euro 7+ level should be at least 33% below the Euro 7 emission limits.
  Increase the normal lifetime of light-duty vehicles to at least 200,000 km or 10 years and the extended lifetime to 240,000 km or 15 years.
• Increase the lifetime of heavy trucks and buses to 1.3 million km and to 560,000 km for medium trucks and buses.
• Adjust the normal RDE ambient conditions for light-duty vehicles to -7 to 35 °C and 0 to 1,600 m.
• Increase the battery durability lifetime to 10 years or 240,000 km and raise the performance retention requirement from 70% to 80% from 2030 onwards.
• Advance the introduction of the 3 mg/km brake particle emissions limit for cars and vans from 2035 to 2027.
• Specify the pollutants to be measured by the on-board emissions monitoring system based on sensor availability and define the pollutants that should be included in the monitoring as soon as sensors become available.
• Use the on-board emission monitor as an indicator for in-service conformity testing eligibility.
  Ensure that the environmental vehicle pass contains all information required for in-service verification tests.

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