The European Commission has recently introduced its proposals for the upcoming Euro 7 emission standards. And at first glance, they have the chance to cause the “great vent” not by reducing the car emissions, but by “purging” the cars in the street.

The car manufacturers have been waiting for the new Euro 7 emission standards for some time. Given that some manufacturers requested exemptions from the deadlines for the adoption of Euro 6 standards, it is natural that they want to know as soon as possible what Euro 7 means, in order to have time to develop systems to reduce the emissions.

European Commission’s proposals for the new Euro 7 standards are extremely tough. For example, the cars are required to have nitrogen oxide emissions of maximum 60 milligrams/km. At first glance, nothing dramatic, because the Euro 6 rules already impose this limitation for gasoline-powered engines. Euro 7 however wants this for all engines and in every condition. It doesn’t matter that we are also talking about diesel engines or that an engine works at -25 degrees in northern Finland or 48 degrees in southern Portugal. The Commission wants this 60-milligram limit to be complied with by engines even at cold start. And another requirement is that the engines should comply with these standards for a period of 10 years or a distance of 200,000 km.

Another heavy blow to the car industry comes from the fact that the Euro 7 rules will apply, so to say, to the bunch. Until now, we were talking about pollution standards differentiated for cars and transport vehicles (light commercial vehicles, public transport vehicles and trucks). With the enforcement of Euro 7 standards, they will apply to all categories of vehicles.

The European Commission hopes to reduce the nitrogen oxide emissions by 35% in the car segment and by 56% in the transport sector.

Even if, for now, we are talking about proposals of the European Commission, we can already draw a first conclusion, namely that the diesel engines will disappear from manufacturers’ offer, as it is almost impossible to reduce the emissions of these engines to the required level. To some extent, the manufacturers anticipated the severity of the new rules and reduced significantly the offer of diesel engines, while others, such as Dacia, completely removed these engines from their offer.

Another detail – the European Commission wants this level of emissions to be complied with by the car models from the moment they are started, in other words we can no longer talk about a cold start. The carmakers will have to develop heating systems for heat engines, and here we are obviously talking about additional costs.

Braking systems

The European Commission has widened the scope of Euro 7 rules, and from now on they will also cover the braking systems, more precisely the amount of dust emitted. And we are already inviting to the table those who believe that the electric car is green. According to the proposals for Euro 7 emission standards, all the cars will have to reduce the amount of dust emitted by the brake systems and tires. As concerns the braking systems, the amount of dust emitted should be quantified. In other words, we are talking about new systems to control the amount of dust emitted by these systems. There are part manufacturers who have already developed special filter systems for the suction of the dust emitted by the braking systems. But no manufacturer has used them yet because of the high costs.

As concerns the tires, the manufacturers already offer low rolling resistance tires on the market, especially for the electric vehicles, for increased efficiency. Tires that release as little microplastic and carbon black as possible are on the wishlist. As I said, somehow such tires already exist, but they raise a new problem, related to safety. They do not offer the same performance as a classic tire, and are more expensive.

The European Commission wants the new Euro 7 rules to come into force starting with 2025. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) suggested the Commission to enforce the new rules starting with January 1st, 2026 for the sale of new cars, and asked a two-year exemption for the commercial vehicles.

The enforcement of Euro 7 will be synonymous with a significant increase in the car’s price, regardless of whether we are talking about a classic model with a heat engine, or with various levels of electrification. Even if, from technical point of view, an electric car is much simpler, the high price of the technology is reflected in the final price of these models. The extra technology that will have to be brought aboard with the enforcement of Euro 7 will lead to significant price increases. Along with the introduction of the new proposals, the European Commission also provided an estimate of the price increase. For cars, they say we are talking about an increase between 90 and 150 euros, and for trucks, up to 2,600 euros. The feedback from the car manufacturers is different, they say that the enforcement of Euro 7 standards will even lead to the disappearance of some models that will no longer justify investments in development.

The Euro 7 standards also impose efficiency standards for the batteries of electrified vehicles, whether we are talking about hybrid, plug-in hybrid or full electric models. The batteries of such models have to provide a capacity of at least 80% of the original one after five years of use or a run of 100,000 km, and 70% after 8 years or a run of 160,000 km. For trucks, these limits are 75% and 65%, respectively.

In addition to the enormous investments that the manufacturers will have to make to align the models to the new standards, there is also a problem of logic and efficiency. Big money will be spent to develop such systems, we are talking about additional emissions that occur while developing such new systems… and all this for a maximum 10-year operating window. Then all this technology will be mostly history. Because from 2035, only electric vehicles can be sold in Europe. All the efforts and money directed to make the heat engines cleaner could be directed to the development of batteries, in order for their production process to use as few rare elements as possible, provide as high an energy density as possible for increased autonomy, etc.

A year ago, I was inventorying the justifications that would lead to the increase in car prices. Now, we are adding Euro 7 to the list. How the final depollution standards Euro 7 will look remains to be seen, it is certain that they will not undergo significant changes, compared to the initial proposals, minor concessions are expected to be accepted as concerns the enforcement deadlines.

Constantin Ciobanu

Share

Share