Europe’s diesel carmakers are set to win at least two extra years to fully comply with planned new EU emissions tests, amid clashes over how regulators should address the Volkswagen scandal.
Officials from national transport ministries meeting in Brussels discussed European Commission proposals that would give manufacturers until late 2019 to ensure that new types of diesel cars fully comply with limits on emissions of harmful nitrogen oxides when tested on the road. Newly made diesel cars based on existing models would have until 2020.
These deadlines contrast with how in 2012 the commission proposed that real-world emissions tests be fully implemented in 2017.
The EU car industry is reeling from revelations that VW installed software in diesel vehicles that served to understate emissions of harmful nitrogen oxides in laboratory tests. The US regulator that exposed the VW cheating has now extended its investigation to vehicles made by companies including Chrysler, General Motors, Land Rover and Mercedes-Benz, which have denied installing similar software.
The VW scandal has highlighted how the EU regulatory regime surrounding NOx emissions is flawed partly because testing is currently focused in the laboratory rather than on the road. Legislation to introduce real-world emissions tests was adopted in 2007, but its implementation has been repeatedly delayed, and some MEPs claim this is because of lobbying by the car industry.
New proposals by the commission would see binding real-world tests introduced for new types of diesel cars in September 2017. But at that stage, cars would be allowed to exceed the 80mg per km EU limit on NOx emissions by as much as 60 per cent.
This flexibility would apply until September 2019, after which the NOx limit would have to be complied with, albeit with a significant margin for error. For newly made diesel cars based on existing models the equivalent dates would be September 2018 and September 2020.
Governments are still studying the plans, which got a mixed reception at the meeting on Tuesday in Brussels, said people familiar with the talks.
One person briefed on the discussions said that representatives of Spain and Italy were among nations that warned that the measures were too harsh on the car industry.
The German carmaker is engulfed in the worst scandal in its 78-year history after it admitted to manipulating emissions test data on its diesel vehicles in the US and Europe
The commission’s proposals would, even at the start, mark a significant clampdown compared with the status quo.
Scientists at the commission were warning as long ago as 2011 that there were massive differences between emissions tests in the laboratory and those on the road. It meant that in practice some vehicles were as much as four times over the permitted NOx limits, with this rising to 14 times for some parts of the tests.
According to the latest commission scientific data, 10 per cent of current diesel models on the market would have to be withdrawn before the end of their natural life cycle because they could not comply with the emissions limit measured under the new tests.
Greg Archer, clean vehicles manager of Transport & Environment, a campaign group that has carried out tests on diesel cars, said that the EU should move much faster.
"Nine in 10 new diesel cars are not clean and on average are producing emissions on the road five times more than current limits,” he added.
Meanwhile, Matthias Müller, VW’s new chief executive, said that the company aimed to launch a recall of vehicles affected by the emissions scandal in January, and complete repairs by the end of 2016.
The technical fix will vary according to the model, transmission and country-specific factors, meaning VW requires "not just three solutions, but rather thousands”, Mr Müller added.
(Financial Times)
