Clean vehicle retrofit scheme provides key component of UK government AQ plan

Developed jointly by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) and the Energy Saving Trust (EST) together with industry stakeholders through funding and support from the DEFRA/DfT Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU), the just-launched Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme (CVRAS) aims to provide the provide the backbone of future retrofit funding for vehicle emission control systems. By providing a single standard for any emission technology to be validated to meet the standards set out in the government’
August 4, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

Developed jointly by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) and the Energy Saving Trust (EST) together with industry stakeholders through funding and support from the DEFRA/DfT Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU), the just-launched Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme (CVRAS) aims to provide the backbone of future retrofit funding for vehicle emission control systems.

By providing a single standard for any emission technology to be validated to meet the standards set out in the government’s Clean Air Zone Framework for England, the scheme will enable the existing fleet of urban vehicles (initially buses, but extending rapidly to a wide range of vehicles) to be fitted with proven emission control solutions.
 
Larger vehicles (buses, vans and HGVs) contribute over half of UK national average roadside concentration of nitrogen dioxide, according to Defra's AQ analysis. Next year the Government will publish a comprehensive Clean Air Strategy which will address other sources of air pollution.
 
The Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme will provide independent evidence that a vehicle retrofit technology will deliver the expected emissions reductions and air quality benefits in real world operation. It will enable drivers, technology manufacturers, businesses and local authorities to be confident that properly verified and accredited technologies provide the appropriate emissions reductions to meet the standards in the government’s Clean Air Zone Framework for England.
 
The initial objectives of the scheme are to develop a set of test protocols (using the existing bus and commercial vehicle technology evaluation schemes as starting points) to accredit retrofit technologies which will deliver on road emission levels equivalent to. Euro VI/6, based on the best available data and representative operating cycles.
 
The retrofit accreditation process will be technology-neutral and designed to allow all potential suppliers of eligible, credible emission reduction technology to apply for accreditation.
 
Technologies already potentially identified and in common use include: SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) fitted to exhaust systems, hybrid powertrain systems and engine repowers with gas (LPG or CNG). New technologies will need to provide robust, independent relevant test data of the performance, prior to being considered for CVRAS accreditation.

Air Quality & Weather Systems

Related Content

  • Europe’s EasyWay project accommodates political requirements
    May 29, 2013
    The EasyWay project has evolved to take account of political developments at the European level. By Jason Barnes The European Union’s (EU’s) EasyWay ITS deployment project has its roots in the ambitions of former European Commission President Jacques Delors with regard to truly international networks for energy, information and for transport. Definition of what became known as the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) began back in 1994 with seven working groups. They produced an R&D and policy framework
    Read More
  • Remote remedies help US authorities identify bridge deficiencies
    September 6, 2017
    Every day 185 million vehicles – cars, trucks, school buses, emergency response units - cross one or more of America’s 55,710 'structurally compromised' steel and concrete road bridges, the highest concentration of which are in Iowa (nearly 5,000), Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. Nearly 2,000 of these crossings are located on interstate highways, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association's recent analysis of the US Department of Transportation's 2016 National Bridge Inventory.
    Read More
  • In-vehicle communication systems offer major safety benefits
    July 17, 2012
    Michael Schagrin and Raymond Resendes provide an update on the US Department of Transportation's vehicle-to-vehicle programme. The US Department of Transportation's (USDOT's) Vehicle-to- Vehicle (V2V) programme, which is concerned with wireless inter-vehicle communications for safety applications such as crash avoidance/mitigation, is a major safety component of the USDOT IntelliDrive cooperative infrastructure programme.
    Read More
  • Bigger role for data protection and privacy policies in transportation
    June 11, 2015
    Dr Caitlin Cottrill, lecturer at the University of Aberdeen’s School of Geosciences, examines the impact of privacy legislation on the transportation sector. Growing reliance on big data, underscored by the increasing ubiquity of smart infrastructure and the ‘Internet of Things’, has profoundly impacted the regulatory environment experienced by transportation professionals. This is particularly the case in relation to the privacy of personally identifying information (PII). There has been increased attenti
    Read More

Highlighted Content