Euro VI came into force on 1 January this year. However, long before the New Year’s Eve fireworks had fizzled out, OEMs and suppliers were trying to second-guess European regulators as to how a “Euro VII” might look.
Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, has acknowledged the significant improvement in vehicle emissions; the substantial fall in new car emissions, she says, “would not have happened had it not been for legislation.” At ACEA’s Truck of the Future in 2013, she hinted she therefore wants more legislation. Euro VI is widely regarded as a landmark technological achievement in emissions reduction; Hedegaard’s view is that, “The truck industry has done its job so far, but it’s not the end of the story.”
Ask truck OEMs and suppliers, and they’ll say Euro VI went so far, other industrial sectors should now step up. Nonetheless, an uninformed guess puts 2020 as a likely date for the next round of European M/HD truck emissions targets.
Long before the New Year’s Eve fireworks had fizzled out, OEMs and suppliers were trying to second-guess European regulators as to how a “Euro VII” might look
2020 is also a likely target for US regulators; the Obama Administration wants the EPA and NHTSA to finalise a rule by March 2016 for the next phase of M/HD truck fuel efficiency standards. Expected to come into effect in 2020, we’re calling it ‘GHG 20’, and the views of a range of stakeholders are presented in a recent Automotive World report, ‘2020 Vision: a first look at GHG 20 for US M/HD trucks’.
New emissions rules are thus being prepared for two separate markets in which the same OEM groups compete. They are also two core markets at the centre of a series of free trade agreement negotiations which include questions about regulatory compliance and possible harmonisation.
And therein lies the rub: fuel efficiency, emissions and air quality are global problems; regulations and standards are regional; yet the products to which they apply – vehicles, fuels or lubricants – are sold globally.
Some of the loudest calls for regulatory harmonisation have come recently from Daimler Trucks. An interview published this week with Martin Daum, Chief Executive of DTNA, highlights the fact that an increasingly global truck market operates with differing national and regional emissions regulations; and Daum enjoys the support of his boss, Wolfgang Bernhard. They of course represent the same interests, but Bernhard also chairs ACEA’s Commercial Vehicle Board, representing Daimler, DAF, Iveco, MAN, Scania, VW Commercial Vehicles and Volvo Group. While ACEA may speak for OEMs in Europe, those same OEMs have global operations.
OEMs want to improve fuel efficiency – it’s an obvious selling point for any truck. Perhaps improvements could be found through non-regulatory means, such as incentives or increased fuel taxation
Rules written in such a way that they apply across a number of regions would spare the industry costly and duplicated R&D. But is it even necessary to regulate? Significant improvements in anything do not come for free; someone has to pay. OEMs want to improve fuel efficiency – it’s an obvious selling point for any truck. Perhaps improvements could be found through non-regulatory means, such as incentives or increased fuel taxation.
Be it EV charge point technology, data and connectivity, safety, fuel quality or emissions, the call for globally harmonised standards is growing louder. The industry wants to operate ‘in harmony’; it’s up to regulators to heed the industry’s call.
Martin Kahl is Editor, Automotive World.
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