Skip to main content

Transport Ministers call for clarity on NOx emissions, UK begins research project

On 7 June, EU Transport Ministers debated on the best way to cut NOx emissions from diesel cars in the wake of the VW scandal. They reflected on possible ways to improve existing legislation to avoid illegal use of defeat devices and explored what technical solutions could already minimise emissions. The Dutch Presidency encouraged Member States to share the findings of their enquiries with other. The proposal to update Euro 5 legislation on the use of defeat devices would have increased uncertainties, rath
June 8, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
On 7 June, EU Transport Ministers debated on the best way to cut NOx emissions from diesel cars in the wake of the VW scandal. They reflected on possible ways to improve existing legislation to avoid illegal use of defeat devices and explored what technical solutions could already minimise emissions. The Dutch Presidency encouraged Member States to share the findings of their enquiries with other. The proposal to update Euro 5 legislation on the use of defeat devices would have increased uncertainties, rather than bringing the necessary clarity.

Meanwhile, in the UK, a 12 month research project deploying 189 Siemens technology to gather information on vehicle emissions in Birmingham got underway in April 2016 as part of the Government’s ongoing efforts to meet EU air quality targets.

The trial uses seven automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras and associated equipment at strategic locations on key routes into Birmingham city centre to capture data on the Euro emissions classification of vehicles. The cameras are supported with back office software and together capable of capturing vehicle registration plate information, safely storing such data, using the data to analyse the potential impact of different Low Emission Zone scenarios including the ability to attribute an indicative Euro Class category to each vehicle.

The new project has been developed by Birmingham City Council in collaboration with public services provider Amey and Siemens.

The data collected from the trial will help give an indication of the environmental impact of the ‘polluting’ vehicles (based on a number of scenarios) and explore potential mechanisms to improve air quality in the city centre and develop a Low Emission strategy

Jacob Bangsgaard, FIA Region I director general said: “Consumers need to be able to trust that the car they purchase is as clean and efficient as advertised. Today, that is clearly not the case. The Council should work to improve overall compliance with the law and full transparency, rather than adding uncertain wording to provisions on defeat devices. In our recently published position on the revision of the type approval, we also encourage decision makers to make information available for independent testing houses for additional compliance testing. Our Clubs are already acting as watchdogs for car safety and ecological impact today.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Machine vision’s image of road management’s future
    June 11, 2015
    Q-Free’s Marco Sinnema looks at how the commoditisation of high-quality vision-based solutions is widening their application. Machine vision technology’s entry into the ITS/traffic management sector has followed a classic top-down path. This is unsurprising given the extremely demanding performance criteria which are the standard in its market of origin, manufacturing processing. Very high image qualities combined with frame rates often in the hundreds per second range resulted in vision systems with capabi
  • TRL to lead project to encourage wider adoption of plug-in vehicles
    September 11, 2015
    The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has appointed TRL, the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory, to lead its Consumers, Vehicles and Energy Integration (CVEI) project. The US$8 million project will examine how the UK energy system needs to adapt in order to accommodate and encourage greater adoption of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles. The project aims to understand the required changes to existing infrastructure, as well as consumer response to a wider introduction of plug-in hybrid and el
  • C-ITS in the EU: ‘A little tribal’
    April 1, 2019
    As the C-ITS Delegated Act begins its journey through the European policy maze, Adam Hill looks at who is expecting what from this proposed framework for connected vehicles – and why some people are insisting that the lawmakers are already getting things wrong here are furrowed brows in Brussels and Strasbourg as European Union legislators begin to consider the rules which will underpin future services such as connected vehicles. The idea is to create a regulatory framework to harmonise cooperative ITS
  • C-ITS in the EU: ‘A little tribal’
    April 1, 2019
    As the C-ITS Delegated Act begins its journey through the European policy maze, Adam Hill looks at who is expecting what from this proposed framework for connected vehicles – and why some people are insisting that the lawmakers are already getting things wrong here are furrowed brows in Brussels and Strasbourg as European Union legislators begin to consider the rules which will underpin future services such as connected vehicles. The idea is to create a regulatory framework to harmonise cooperative ITS