The Euro 7 regulation is getting closer to becoming a reality. After successive delays since the end of 2021, the European Commission is ready to adopt the new emission restrictions, which are expected to be the last before the ban on the sale of combustion engines arrives, in 2035.
Thus, more severe parameters will be set on suspended particles, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides (NOx) on the latest thermal propellants in Europe. Something that is scheduled to come into force no earlier than 2025.
The current rule, Euro 6, came into effect in 2014 and has been at the heart of the diesel engine emissions scandal of 2015 – it has been progressively tightened with revisions ever since.
Before the Brussels announcement to sell exclusively zero-emission models from 2035, the tentative parameters of the Euro 7 discussions had been leaked, something that the European manufacturers association, Acea, had described as “excessively severe” and as “the end of combustion engines.”
The last time the decision to adopt the new regulations was delayed, last July, the tentative date was set “from October 12 to 26”. However, even if approved this month, it would take three or more years for them to come into effect.
European commissioners have repeatedly acknowledged the delays in adopting Euro 7. According to them, this is due to many factors: the complexity of creating standards for cars, motorcycles and commercials at the same time, the need to recognize the priorities of the different actors and even the Fit For 55 emissions targets, which were not foreseen when Euro 7 began to be defined.
Non-guaranteed investment
According to the Director of Emissions and Fuels at Acea, Paul Greening“we are not convinced of the benefits of Euro 7”, given that it would apply only to one generation of vehicles, which would start production from 2026.
With the electrification plans of the brands, by that date it is unlikely that combustion models will be produced without any type of electrical assistance. «Investing in Euro 7 to obtain a small return, is becoming more and more complicated»Greening concluded.
In contrast, the Commission’s emissions team leader said that Euro 7 goes far beyond passenger car emissions. “They also affect industrial and commercial vehicles, which will not yet be fully electrified in 2035.”
According to Brussels, in 2019 there were about 300,000 deaths in the European Union related to air pollution.
Advocates of the restrictions also say the health benefits are worth it, given that vehicles affected by the regulations will still be on the road in the 2040s.