ADAC testing finds new diesel cars cleaner than required; Euro 6c and 6d-Temp vehicles well below the permissible NOx limits
22 February 2019
In Germany, testing by ADAC (Allgemeine Deutsche Automobil-Club eV) has found that all the Euro 6c and 6d-Temp vehicles that have been measured on the road to date meet much stricter requirements nitrogen oxides (NOx) than required by the EU.
In the test, the cars were not only significantly below the tolerance value of 168 mg/km for diesel cars, which is applied in the road test (RDE method), but also below the current Euro 6 WLTC limit of 80 mg/km.
Source: ADAC.
In December 2018, following the complaints of the cities of Paris, Brussels and Madrid, the European Union Court of Justice annulled the tolerance values for road tests issued by the EU Commission.
The tolerance values—conformity factors (CF)—had been set by the European Commission in order to take into account the technical and statistical inaccuracies of the RDE measurements. Thus, for Euro 6 diesel vehicles, a NOx limit of 80 mg / km was established for the test bench measurements.
However, to ensure that the vehicles can also compete in the RDE procedure, the Commission adopted a compliance factor of 2.1. According to this, new type-approved diesel passenger cars may emit NOx for a transitional period from September 2017 (from September 2019 for newly registered passenger cars) of 168 mg/km instead of 80 mg/km.
Our measurement results show that diesel technology can have a future. Should the EU Commission revise the consistency factor, then consumers must be confident that Euro-6d (TEMP) vehicles already purchased or offered for sale enjoy legitimate expectations.
—ADAC Vice President of Engineering Thomas Burkhardt
I told you so... long time ago...
Posted by: Peter_XX | 22 February 2019 at 04:06 AM
Yes, you did.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 22 February 2019 at 08:33 AM
In the words of Rodney King, "Can we all (advanced gasoline, Diesel, hybrid and EVs) just get along?"
Posted by: TDIMeister | 22 February 2019 at 10:07 AM
For every ICE sold that another 15-20 years of ongoing pollution; nothing slower than a OEM car company moving off the status quo.
Posted by: Lad | 22 February 2019 at 09:27 PM
It is interesting to see what the car companies can do once they decide to do it, rather than trying to hide their problems.
Could they have achieved these levels 5 or 10 years ago, is it a mix of new technology and fear that has driven these improvements ?
Maybe, 10 years ago, electric cars weren't taken seriously so they felt no need to comply, but now they are seen as a real possibility and the ICE companies are fighting for their lives.
Posted by: mahonj | 23 February 2019 at 02:05 AM
It is also interesting that cheaper cars like the Opel Astra, Golf and 307SW can make the numbers, not just the Mercs and BMWs.
Posted by: mahonj | 23 February 2019 at 02:08 AM
So many examples of pollution reduction failing some within six months. Globally emissions testing for compliance is not so common. Unproven designs have been problematic for reliability as well and emissions system defeat chips and device disconnection has been seen in many markets.
I would have thought some of the very impressive numbers described can be attributed to companies bringing technology release dates forward and scrapping some interim designs that would have had limited prospects in the tightening market . With BEV's gaining higher market penetration and the fact that only the best performers will get the nod from regulators makes less well performing technologies redundant before they leave the drawing board.
Posted by: Arnold | 25 February 2019 at 03:36 PM