Key changes and updates include the replacement of the New European Drive Cycle (NEDC) with the Worldwide harmonized Light-vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP), adding the Real Driving Emissions (RDE) test requirement, and the adoption of requirements for on-board diagnostic systems and on-board fuel and energy consumption monitoring devices. These will all lead to a far more robust understanding of real-world emissions.

Notable improvements compared with the former Euro 5-equivalent standard include more stringent emission limits for nitrogen oxides (NO_x) and total hydrocarbons plus NO_x (THC+NO_x) for diesel vehicles, and the introduction of a particle number (PN) limit for particles bigger than 23 nm for gasoline vehicles fitted with gasoline direct injection.

Australia’s regulatory impact analysis estimated over AU$6.3 billion in benefits from these standards between 2026 and 2040, 4 times more than the estimated total costs of compliance. This policy update presents more details on the scope and impact of the standard and compares it with the more advanced Euro 6e and Euro 7 standards already adopted by the European Union.

The post Australia’s new Euro 6d-equivalent emission standards for light vehicles appeared first on International Council on Clean Transportation.

Steel manufacturing is one of the most energy and emission intensive industries worldwide, relying heavily on fossil fuels, especially coal, in primary production. In vehicle manufacturing, steel is the most used material by mass, typically making up between 50% and 66% of the vehicle, depending on the model, segment, and powertrain type.

Given the automotive industry’s substantial steel consumption, automakers may be uniquely suited to drive demand for fossil fuel-free steel and influence the steel industry transition away from coal-based steel production.

This analysis examines the ability of automotive industries in the United States and the European Union to reduce GHG emissions of automotive steel through:

• Discussing current steel production pathways and associated GHG emissions
• Describing pathways to produce fossil fuel-free steel
• Exploring other modes to reduce steel demand in vehicles
• Comparing GHG emission reduction potential for internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the United States and the European Union
• Summarizing the other aspects necessary for the transition to green steel

Figure. U.S. and EU steel-only vehicle manufacturing GHG emissions for internal combustion engine and battery electric vehicles by steel production pathway

Note: Production pathways are Baseline blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) in 2022; Best Possible scenario of BF-BOF with renewable electricity and more efficient technologies; best possible direct reduced iron (DRI) + electric arc furnace (EAF) which uses green hydrogen and renewable electricity; and best possible molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) using renewable electricity.

The research arrives at the following key results:

• The auto industry can eliminate more than 95% of greenhouse gas emissions from producing steel for passenger vehicles by switching to fossil fuel-free steel. Doing so would reduce overall vehicle manufacturing emissions by up to 27%.
• Using fossil fuel-free steel in vehicle production increases cost by $100–$200, or less than 1% of the price of an average new vehicle
• Fossil fuel-free primary steel production technologies already exist, and production capacity can increase, but not without commitments from buyers.

The post Technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automotive steel in the United States and the European Union appeared first on International Council on Clean Transportation.

This analysis provides insights into emission trends over time, the impact of regulatory standards, and vehicle performance. For example, the measurements show a consistent and substantial decrease of at least 70% in fleet-average emissions with newer model years for hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen oxide (NO) across all four locations. Trends in Alberta, Virginia, and Colorado are closely aligned, reflecting Canada’s adoption of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards since 1988. On the other hand, vehicles in Mexico City, particularly taxis, exhibit significantly higher emissions. In part, this trend can be attributed to factors such as the use of gasoline with higher sulfur content and Mexico’s national emissions standards, last updated in 2005; new model years show significant improvement in NO and CO emissions, but even these vehicles have much higher HC emissions than vehicles in Canada and the United States. 

The post Pollutant emissions from light-duty vehicles across North America: A comparative analysis  appeared first on International Council on Clean Transportation.

Estos hallazgos señalan el potencial de grandes reducciones en las emisiones mediante políticas diseñadas para dirigirse a los vehículos más antiguos y de mayores emisiones para su mantenimiento o reemplazo. Otras recomendaciones de política incluyen la adopción de una zona de bajas emisiones en el centro de la Ciudad de México, la armonización de programas de inspección y mantenimiento entre estados, y medidas regulatorias e incentivos gubernamentales para impulsar la transición a vehículos de baja o cero emisiones.

The post Evaluación de las emisiones reales de vehículos de pasajeros y taxis en la Ciudad de México appeared first on International Council on Clean Transportation.

These findings point to the potential for large reductions in emissions from policies designed to target the oldest, highest-emitting vehicles for maintenance or replacement. Other policy recommendations include the adoption of a low-emission zone in downtown Mexico City, the harmonization of inspection and maintenance programs across states, and regulatory measures and government incentives to spur the transition to lower-emitting and zero-emission vehicles.

The post Assessment of real-world passenger vehicle and taxi emissions in Mexico City appeared first on International Council on Clean Transportation.

Este estudo simulou 5 mil cenários para avaliar o potencial do programa MOVER de redução das emissões médias de GEE em veículos novos vendidos no Brasil, considerando vendas de híbridos e elétricos, bem como de ganhos de eficiência energética em novos veículos a combustão. A análise considera o potencial de mitigação diretamente ligado às montadoras reguladas pelo programa MOVER, ou seja, avalia as reduções de emissões decorrentes de mudanças nas características dos veículos de diferentes tecnologias vendidos.

Entre os principais resultados, destacamos simulações que apresentam reduções de emissões de até 17,5% para carros de passeio e 15% para veículos comerciais leves até 2027, resultantes da soma do aumento das vendas de veículos elétricos e da melhoria dos atuais motores à combustão. Simulações que apresentam reduções de emissões menores, entre 10% e 12,5% para carros de passeio e entre 5 e 10% para comerciais leves, não fornecem incentivos adequados para o desenvolvimento da produção de veículos de baixa emissão, atrasando o atingimento das metas de longo prazo assinadas pelo Brasil. Nesta análise, um market share de 12% para veículos elétricos em 2027 está associado a reduções de emissões do poço à roda de 9%, valor maior do que as reduções alcançadas por ganhos na eficiência energética de veículos a combustão, que representam 73% das vendas.

The post O potencial de descarbonização do programa MOVER: Explorando variações nas vendas de veículos de diferentes tecnologias até 2027 appeared first on International Council on Clean Transportation.

For both sedans and SUVs, results show that BEVs have the lowest life-cycle GHG emissions across all powertrains. The GHG emissions of model year 2024 PHEV sedans and SUVs are roughly 2 times higher than BEVs powered by the average grid mix assuming real-world electric drive shares. Model year 2024 HEVs are estimated to emit 2.2 times (sedans) and 2.5 times (SUVs) more life-cycle GHG emissions than BEVs powered by the average grid, and conventional ICE vehicles emit up to 3.5 times (SUVs) more. Compared with BEVs powered by 100% renewable electricity, this difference increases to 4.9 times more GHG emissions for HEV SUVs and 6.7 times more for conventional ICE SUVs.

For new vehicles projected to be sold in 2030, the relative benefits of BEVs are even larger. Conventional ICE SUVs were estimated to have 7.5 times higher life-cycle GHG emissions than BEVs powered by 100% renewable electricity. While PHEVs and HEVs have a lower GHG footprint than ICE vehicles, their emissions reduction potential is more limited than for BEVs, which not only deliver emissions reduction at the tailpipe, but across the entire vehicle lifetime for representative sedans and SUVs sold in the United States.

The post Life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of U.S. sedans and SUVs with different powertrains and fuel sources appeared first on International Council on Clean Transportation.

This blog was originally published in ETAuto.

The Government of India is emphasizing the need to decarbonize road transport, and low-emission zones (LEZs), geographically defined areas where the operation of highly polluting motorized vehicles is restricted, can accelerate this transition toward cleaner mobility. LEZs also have the potential to improve quality of life for urban residents because of the health benefits they bring.

LEZs are becoming an increasingly adopted intervention to curb urban air pollution and traffic congestion, especially among European cities where more than 320 such zones exist. In addition to regulating the movement of polluting vehicles, LEZs also help spur mode shift from private vehicles to public transit and more active mobility alternatives like walking and cycling. As cities in India consider such interventions to address the issues of pollution and traffic congestion, and to meet decarbonization goals, how would upgrading transport infrastructure bring a range of benefits, including support for LEZs?

Enabling regulation of highly polluting vehicles

To identify vehicles that are contributing to most emissions, city authorities need vehicle-specific information like the fuels they run on, their years of manufacture, and the emission standards to which they are certified, for every vehicle plying in the city. While vehicle-specific information is available through the VAHAN database, the challenge lies in ascertaining polluting vehicles that are plying in the city and their travel patterns.

Vehicle registration data available with the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) that cover a given city is seldom considered a proxy to determine the motor vehicles plying in that city. However, the vehicles plying within a city could have been registered anywhere in the country, and the registration data from RTOs is not likely to be a complete representation of vehicles operating in that city. In 2016, for example, it was estimated that over 5 lakh personal passenger vehicles enter Delhi every day, which was more than the total number of vehicles getting registered in the capital in a year. An equal number could be traveling out of the city as well, deeming the registration data inept for determining polluting vehicles.

Installing closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, preferably those with the ability to read license plates, at strategic locations across the city is an ideal way to access real-time insights into vehicular movement. Using the vehicle registration numbers detected by this network of CCTVs, local authorities can determine the age, engine type, Bharat Stage emission standard, and other characteristics of each vehicle plying in the city to develop a vehicle emission inventory and identify vehicles that should be regulated by the LEZs.

While CCTVs are already extensively used in security surveillance and traffic and parking management, they are now being integrated with artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities for many things, including crowd management, threat detection, and improving road safety. Bigger cities like Delhi and Bengaluru already have over 2 lakh CCTVs installed for improving law and order. Such a robust network of cameras in a city augments the eyes-on-the-street concept and can be used to enforce future LEZs, all while remaining compliant with the rules governing this equipment in India.

Encouraging alternative modes of travel

Alternatives to private vehicles include public transport modes like metro, light rail, and bus, para transit modes like feeder buses and auto-rickshaws, and non -motorized modes like cycle-rickshaws, cycling, and walking.

Public transport is especially crucial in metropolitan areas, where about half of all motorized trips are made via buses or metros. It’s also effective in moving more people and consumes less fuel per passenger kilometers travelled than private vehicles. Cycling and walking are the cleanest modes of travel, and the cheapest and healthiest. Across 27 cities in India, research found that the number of people cycling and walking ranges from 48% to 55%, depending on population size (large cities of more than 10 million people are on the lower end of the range).

It’s estimated that India operates only one-fifth of the buses it currently needs. With a few exceptions (Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad), most cities with any form of rapid transit system (metro, bus-rapid transit, or light rail) operate at less than 20% of their estimated ridership. Most Indian cities lack adequate and safe infrastructure for non-motorised transport.

Efforts are being made at both national and subnational levels to improve the availability of and access to non-personal modes of travel. The PM e-Bus Sewa program aims to add 10,000 new electric buses in 169 cities. The operational network of metros in cities is expected to double in the next few years. While there is a clear need to increase availability, the barriers to using public transport, which include safety, accessibility, reliability, and comfort must also be addressed. This can not only encourage a mode shift from personal to public transportation, but also increase the acceptability of LEZs.

LEZs are not an isolated solution to a city’s deteriorating air quality but contribute towards the overall enrichment of the urban ecosystem. Studies show LEZs have helped reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions from road traffic by up to 46%. By integrating technological solutions and upgrading transport infrastructure, cities not only improve the efficiency of transport system but also add infrastructure that is a utility for other urban services. With the environmental and health benefits they bring, LEZs could be a valuable part of India’s vision for cleaner, healthier, and more liveable cities.

 

Author

Vaibhav Kush
Researcher

Related Publications

IMPROVING AIR QUALITY IN CITIES THROUGH TRANSPORT-FOCUSED LOW- AND ZERO-EMISSION ZONES: LEGAL PATHWAYS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDIA

Presents five legal pathways for implementing low-emission zones and zero-emission zones in India at the national, state, and city levels that were identified by working with an environmental law expert.

Print

SectorHeavy vehiclesLight vehicles

PoliciesClean airGHG emissions

RegionIndia

The post Low-emission Zones – a catalyst for improving transit infrastructure in cities appeared first on International Council on Clean Transportation.

The authors analyze how two options for supply-side regulations—fuel consumption standards and EV sales requirements—could help accelerate the EV transition in line with Indonesia’s goals. Both regulations have proven effective in other major markets and at almost no cost to the national budget (the only costs are monitoring and enforcement). Although this paper focuses on passenger cars, these types of supply-side policies can be designed and implemented for two-wheelers, light commercial vehicles, and medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.

Baca laporan singkat ini dalam Bahasa Indonesia.

The post The role of supply-side regulations in meeting Indonesia’s 2030 electric vehicle target appeared first on International Council on Clean Transportation.

Two lean NO_x trap (LNT) equipped test vehicles had NO_x emissions higher than laboratory limits, whereas the emissions from the test vehicle with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) were well within the limits. Overall, results show that technologies for low emissions exist and can be optimized to achieve further emission reductions. These need to be widely implemented in India to achieve cleaner transportation. For example, the test vehicle which has a gasoline-direct injection engine and no gasoline particulate filter showed the highest particle number emissions among all the four test vehicles. Adopting the Euro 6e conformity factors in India could help ensure that vehicle emissions are measured and regulated more stringently, and lead to lower overall emissions and improved air quality.

The post Real-driving emissions from Bharat Stage VI (phase 1) passenger cars and a light commercial vehicle in India – PEMS testing appeared first on International Council on Clean Transportation.