Exhaust Emissions of In-Use Euro 6d-TEMP and Euro 6d Vehicles in WLTP and RDE Conditions, a Comparison 2022-01-1023

Air pollution is a major threat to the environment and human health being responsible of more than 350 000 premature deaths every year in the European Union (EU). Road transport accounts for circa 40% of the total NOx emissions and 10% of the particulates emissions of the EU. However, these shares increase significantly in urban areas where 75% of the citizens live. In order to curb pollutant emissions from new vehicles entering the European market, the Euro 6 regulation, setting emission limits for cars and vans, was recently updated with the introduction of a new test procedure in the laboratory, the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP), and a novel on-road test performed with Portable Emissions Measurement Systems, the Real Driving Emissions regulation (RDE). Both test procedures WLTP and RDE were designed to represent typical driving conditions and thus help characterizing exhaust emissions of light-duty vehicles in real life operation. This manuscript presents NOx, CO, and solid particulate number PN emissions of 53 gasoline and diesel passenger cars type-approved in the EU after the entry into force of the WLTP and RDE (i.e., meeting the Euro 6d-TEMP and Euro 6d standards). Emissions data over WLTP and RDE tests on in-use vehicles was collected by the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission in the period 2018-2021. Emissions are characterized by powertrain, fuel type, and test procedure. All vehicles comply well with Euro 6 emission limits and no statistically significant differences are found in NOx, CO, and PN emissions measured over the complete WLTP and RDE tests, both for gasoline and diesel vehicles.