The automobile industry agrees that a new and fully updated Real Driving Emissions (RDE) test is needed to better measure NOx emissions of light-duty vehicles under normal driving conditions. The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) is working closely with the European Commission and other stakeholders in the development of a new RDE test procedure. RDE will require manufacturers to make major changes in testing and developing new vehicles. These changes can only be made once there is full clarity on the new test cycle. The member states gave support to a European Commission proposal for a very incomplete regulation on RDE. This decision is by no means the end of the discussion on RDE, as what was agreed is just a partial set of evaluation conditions for real driving emissions.
ACEA has been calling on the Commission and member states to agree all necessary RDE evaluation conditions by JuneJuly 2015 at the latest – ie those agreed recently, alongside several others that are critical for an effective RDE regulation. In addition, ACEA has called for a two-step date framework, which would allow industry the proper lead-time to apply the complex RDE regulation and make very significant hardware changes to future vehicles. These and other issues must be resolved if the new testing conditions are to be implemented by September 2017 – as ACEA has always intended
Mr Jonnaert, Secretary General of ACEA said: “ACEA calls on the Commission to urgently deliver a complete proposal for Real Driving Emissions by June or July at the latest for a positive decision in the regulatory committee. We need to make more progress on clarifying all testing conditions to ensure a robust RDE regulation could commence from September 2017. Automobile manufacturers remain concerned about the piecemeal approach the Commission is taking in preparing this proposal. This is not smart regulation. We need clarity in advance so that we can plan the development and design of vehicles in line with the new requirements.”