EURO Emission standards and their meanings

The emission standards are important for environment and in this article we will explain their meanings and their values.

Euro Standards

While the Euro Standards are used in Europe, these standards are highly recognized in the world. These standards refer to the emission limits that a vehicle, regardless its fuel used, can exhaust.

The first Euro standard was introduced on 1st of July 1991 and became mandatory for all new registrations starting with 31st December 1993. Since then, there were introduced 6 standards with the last one in 1st September 2014 and became mandatory on 1st of September 2015.

Emission Limits

EURO Emission standards and their meanings

These limits refer to the level of NOx (nitrogen oxides) for Diesel or Petrol vehicles and a limit for Particulate Matter regarding diesel emissions. These limits are very important for a new vehicle since exceeding a limit for any of these levels would prevent a car to be registered.

Particulate Matter

Probably the most characteristic emission of a Diesel engine, the Particulate Matter, is the level of emission which is responsible for the black smoke that is exhausted from a car equipped with a Diesel Engine. In order to decrease the amount of PM’s being exhausted by a vehicle equipped with a Diesel motor, there are in place different complex aerosol systems.

Euro 1

Effectively introduced in 1993 the standard for a Diesel or Petrol car was of 0.97 g/km for NOx. As well, for the diesel versions, the PM level would be at a maximum of 0.14 g/km.

Euro 2

The Euro 2 level was first released starting with 1st of January 1996 and became mandatory on 1st of January 1997 with levels of 0.5 g/km for Petrol engines and 0.9g/km for Diesel (NOx). The diesel pm for euro 2 is 0.1 g/km

Euro 3

The standard for Euro 3 was introduced as of 1st of January 2000 and became mandatory 1 year later for all registrations. The new standard came with a level of 0.15g/km for gasoline and 0.5g/km for diesel. PM was 0.05 g/km.

Euro 4

Probably one of the most important standards in the industry was introduced on1st of September 2009 (mandatory – 2 years later). The Petrol nitrogen oxides are of 0.08 g/km and 0.25g/km for diesel. Diesel’s PM is of 0.025/km.

Euro 5

Another important standard that equips a lot of cars in our days, the EURO 5 emission standard, came on 1st of September 2009 and became mandatory for all new cars starting with 1st of January 2011. Petrol NX is 0.06 g/km and 0.18 g/km for Diesel. The PM is as low as 0.005g/km.

Euro 6

The current standard for cars in Europe was released in 1st of September 2014 and mandatory one year later. Same as Euro 6 the gasoline engines should not exceed 0.06 g/km with NOx for Diesel for 0.08 g/km and a PM of only 0.0045 g/km.

While the world and Europe struggles to reduce the vehicles emissions, new standards will be introduced and the future will probably bring low or zero emission vehicles.

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