New Standards
The EU adopted the RDE-LDV in order to tighten the exhaust emission standards applied to diesel vehicles. According to the new rule, which is likely to be imitated by Korea, the NOx emission on actual road conditions should not exceed 0.168 g/km and 0.12 g/km from September 2017 and January 2020, respectively.
Still, the level of automotive technology falls short of the new rule as of now. The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission recently said that Euro-5 and Euro-6 diesel vehicles’ NOx emissions reach 2.5 to four times the tolerance on the road. The Ministry of Environment of Korea also pointed out in June this year that diesel vehicles in Korea emit 2.8 times more NOx on the roads than in the labs.
This means that the majority of automakers cannot meet the new standards without significant technological progress. Then, they cannot produce and sell their vehicles from September 2017 in Korea and the EU, where authorizations used to be given based solely on lab test results. In Korea, tests utilizing actual road conditions are expected to be turned into law in the first half of next year.
“Ultimately, both Korea and the EU will reach 0.08 g/km by 2020 by further tightening the rules, and this will be of great significance in diesel emission management,” the ministry explained, adding, “I believe two years will be enough for automakers to become capable of meeting the new standards although the present technology is incapable of doing so.”