Thursday 11 October 2018

EU invests in two additional car emissions testing facilities

EU invests in two additional car emissions testing facilities

Two additional facilities that will carry out vehicle emissions testing before they are rolled out on the roads are to be built in Italy.

The European Commission is investing in the Vehicle Emissions Laboratories (VELA), which will monitor and check compliance of vehicles with the type-approval regulation and the new emissions limits, whether in the laboratory or on the road.

VELA 10 and VELA 11 will be located at the Joint Research Centre in Ispra, which will carry out the checks under the new European Type Approval framework on behalf of the Commission.

On-board fuel and energy consumption monitoring devices are being introduced, allowing the comparison of laboratory results for CO2 emissions with average real driving situations for the first time.

The checks will also focus on some safety issues such as brakes and the protection of passengers.

The new facilities, in addition to the current four, are scheduled to start testing cars in 2020 when new type-approval rules for safer and cleaner cars will enter into force.

Under the regulations, the Commission will carry out market checks independently from member states and includes the possibility for it to initiate EU-wide recalls and impose fines of up to €30,000 (£26,223) per car.

The new rules are expected to raise the quality level and independence of vehicle type approval and testing and increase checks of cars that are already on the EU market.

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

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