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Title: NOx emissions from diesel passenger cars worsen with age

Journal Article · · Environmental Science and Technology
 [1];  [2]
  1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  2. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg (Austria)

Commonly, the NOx emissions rates of diesel vehicles have been assumed to remain stable over the vehicle's lifetime. However, there have been hardly any representative long-term emission measurements. Here we present real-driving emissions of diesel cars and light commercial vehicles sampled on-road over 15 years in Zurich/Switzerland. Results suggest deterioration of NOx unit emissions for Euro 2 and Euro 3 diesel technologies, while Euro 1 and Euro 4 technologies seem to be stable. We can exclude a significant influence of high-emitting vehicles. NOx emissions from all cars and light commercial vehicles in European emission inventories increase by 5-10% accounting for the observed deterioration, depending on the country and its share of diesel cars. Finally, we suggest monitoring the stability of emission controls particularly for high-mileage light commercial as well as heavy-duty vehicles.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1247122
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5400-66153
Journal Information:
Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 50, Issue 7; ISSN 0013-936X
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 54 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (6)

Real-driving emissions from cars and light commercial vehicles – Results from 13 years remote sensing at Zurich/CH journal May 2014
New emission deterioration rates for gasoline cars – Results from long-term measurements journal January 2015
Recent evidence concerning higher NOx emissions from passenger cars and light duty vehicles journal December 2011
On-Road Emissions of Light-Duty Vehicles in Europe journal October 2011
Diesel Emissions in Review journal April 2011
Recent trends and projections of primary NO2 emissions in Europe journal April 2009

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Toxicological evaluation of exhaust emissions from light-duty vehicles using different fuel alternatives in sub-freezing conditions journal May 2020
Impacts and mitigation of excess diesel-related NOx emissions in 11 major vehicle markets journal May 2017
Gaseous nitrous acid (HONO) and nitrogen oxides (NO x ) emission from gasoline and diesel vehicles under real-world driving test cycles journal February 2017
Climate effects of non-compliant Volkswagen diesel cars journal April 2018
Global anthropogenic emissions of particulate matter including black carbon journal January 2017
Presentation of the EURODELTA III inter-comparison exercise - Evaluation of the chemistry transport models performance on criteria pollutants and joint analysis with meteorology posted_content January 2016
Gaseous nitrous acid (HONO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission from gasoline and diesel vehicles under real-world driving test cycles text January 2017
Gaseous nitrous acid (HONO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission from gasoline and diesel vehicles under real-world driving test cycles text January 2017