AIR (Allow Independent Road-testing), the independent alliance set up to improve air quality by promoting independent, on-road vehicle emissions testing, welcomes the publication of the CEN workshop agreement CWA 17379 general guidelines on the real drive methodology for compiling comparable emissions data for NOx in urban driving.
Issued by The European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), the CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA 17379 produced by CEN Workshop 90), provides, for the first time, a testing methodology to conduct on-road tests to capture emissions data, from different test centres, such that the data collected will allow the emissions performance of vehicles to be fairly compared. Its applicability to vehicles of a wide range means that it forms a valuable complement to the new Real Driving Emissions (RDE) regulation.
Today’s publication reflects the collective dialogue between more than 40 scientists, consumer groups, policy makers, engineers and NGOs, working together under the chairmanship of Nick Molden, Founder of Emissions Analytics and Co-founder of AIR, to develop this standardised and recognised methodology.
The workshop reached consensus on the specific and detailed criteria which must be followed during the tests to ensure that a result is valid and repeatable across multiple instances of the same vehicle captured using Portable Emissions Measurement Systems (PEMS) equipment.
The stringent requirements of the methodology demand the testing of at least two matching examples of each model, during three separate journeys, including at least five, 10km trips conducted on paved roads, at an average speed between 20 km/h and 40 km/h.
Key to the development of the CWA 17379 has been AIR’s own Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), comprising international scientists and advisors in air quality and vehicle emissions. The committee was recently joined by Dan Carder, who led the West Virginia University team that unveiled the Dieselgate scandal and Dr Norbert Ligterink, Senior Research Scientist at Netherlands-based independent research organisation TNO, one of the global leaders in the field of real-world vehicle emissions and fuel consumption.
Existing members include Helen ApSimon, Dr Adam Boies, Dr Claire Holman, Dr Guido Lanzani, Martin Lutz, Dr Xavier Querol, Dr Marc Stettler, and Professor Martin Williams. Their combined expertise underpins AIR as a highly knowledgeable body in the field of air quality improvement. Each members’ association with AIR is representative of their own experience and opinion, rather than the institutions they work for.
Massimo Fedeli, Co-founder and Operations Director of AIR said: “This a landmark day for independent testing of vehicle emissions. The CEN Workshop Agreement 17379 reflects more than a year of collaboration to reach alignment on the methodology to report the actual NOx emissions from vehicles in urban driving, so that consumers can buy the cleanest car, based on scientific fact. Only when armed with such information can policy makers in cities and governments create fair and effective rules to tackle urban air quality problems.”
Nick Molden, Co-founder of AIR said: “I would like to thank all of the participants in the CEN workshop, more than 40 in fact, who gave their time and advice to ensure that we now have the most effective methodology to create repeatable and comparable tests of urban NOx emissions from vehicles.”
For more details about CWA 17379 visit the CEN website http://bit.ly/CWA17379
SOURCE: Air
