Pollutant Emissions from the Latest Generation of Heavy-Duty Vehicles in Europe and China

Pollutant emissions from heavy-duty vehicles impact air quality and have substantial adverse health effects. Regulation is in place to limit the pollutant emissions of trucks and buses, to protect public health and the environment. In this study, we investigated the on-road emissions of modern heavy-duty vehicles in Europe and China compliant with current emission standards, Euro VI and China VI. Two buses and two trucks were measured over several different routes, and the analysis investigated the effect on NOx, PN, NH3, N2O, CO, and CO2 emissions. Additional NOx measurements were performed on seven trucks in Europe.
The emissions performance was evaluated using the provisions of the current Euro VI/China VI standards and the available, yet unofficial, Euro VII proposals. The analysis showed that vehicles exhibit high emissions in certain use cases that would be included in the regulatory scope based on the proposed Euro VII approach.
To comply with the available, yet unofficial, Euro VII proposal, NOx emissions from the tested HDVs would need to be 83% to 95% lower. For PN, the average reduction is 4%, with a maximum of 70%. Regarding NH3, the emissions should decrease by 43% and up to 79%. N2O emissions must have to improve by 37% and 89%.