Putting SUVs with cars would be a great idea. After all, it's not like they are lower volume vehicles anymore, and in most cases they are used for the same functions.

Well it seems the eu version doesnt put em as cars for milage wich is prolly the one big arse reason everyone and thier sister in the auto industry is against the cal version.

Natural gas vehicles are today among the best options for a cleaner trasport system. But they are put now in jeopardy, due to the new lower limit proposed for THC emissions by the EURO 5 standard. It is really necessary to consider the replacement of the Total Hydrocarbon (THC) limit by a Non-Methane Hydrocarbon (NMHC) limit.

Rationale:
Methane (CH4) is non-toxic and has a negligible contribution to ozone formation compared to other hydrocarbons (NMHCs).
Definition of an NMHC standard is an important step towards world-wide harmonisation of emission standards, as NMHC standards already exist in North America and Japan, as well as in Europe for heavy duty vehicles.
A total hydrocarbon standard (THC) fails to recognize the significant contribution of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) to reduced ozone/smog emissions compared to petrol vehicles.
Most THC-emissions of NGVs and petrol vehicles are produced during cold-start, because the catalyst temperature first needs to reach the so-called “light-off” temperature before any HC-conversion takes place. NGVs without a petrol tank must start on natural gas; NGVs with a petrol tank can use algorithms that start the vehicle on petrol before switching to natural gas. Alternatively, NGVs with a petrol tank also can be designed to start on natural gas. The industry stresses that NGVs starting on natural gas, like the dedicated and more efficient mono-fuel vehicles without a petrol tank, will have great difficulty meeting a THC limit of 0.075 g/km. The same is valid also for NGVs with a petrol tank that are designed to start on natural gas.
To further improve the environmental performance of NGVs there is a general desire to reduce the time that NGVs have to run on petrol during the cold start phase. Meeting a THC limit of 0.075 g/km can be done by increasing the time the engine runs on petrol after start-up. This, however, leads to higher emissions of NMHC (and all unregulated components included in that), and thus leads to a net deterioration of the environmental performance.
OEMs evaluate the capabilities of CNG turbo charged engines in order to further improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2-emissions. For this technology catalyst light off will be further delayed due to the extra mass upstream of the catalytic converter.
The methane conversion efficiency of present day three way catalysts is not as good as expected or desired, also in the hot phase. However, no real catalyst improvement seems to be available in the near future, since catalyst suppliers have not made many efforts to improve this situation, considering that -by definition- methane is not noxious.
To meet the present Euro-4 THC limits without excessive petrol running time, NGV-manufacturers have already adopted sophisticated and costly solutions. Additional sophistication to meet a reduced Euro-5 THC limit will induce significant additional costs that do not translate into a net environmental benefit.

For these reasons, the replacement of the current Total Hydrocarbon (THC) standard by a Non-Methane Hydrocarbon (NMHC) Standard for all light duty vehicles with spark ignition engines (classes M1 and N1) is a necessary step towards the development of NGVs.
Since the share of CH4 in the THC-emission (in g/km) of petrol vehicles generally is around 10%, the value for the Euro 5 NMHC-limit for vehicles with spark ignition engines (petrol, CNG and LPG) could be set at 90% of any proposed Euro 5 THC-limit.

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