In the diesel smoke opacity test the vehicle is operated through a sequence of so-called ‘free accelerations’ with the engine under no external load, the gear lever in neutral and the clutch engaged. The inspection is done in the following steps:
- Visual inspection. This is conducted in the same way as the petrol vehicle inspection.
- Vehicle preconditioning. Vehicles may be tested without preconditioning, although for safety reasons checks should be made that the engine is warm and in a satisfactory mechanical condition.
- Test procedure.
- the engine must be at idle before the start of each free acceleration cycle.
- the throttle pedal is fully depressed quickly and continuously (in less than one second), but not violently, so as to obtain maximum delivery from the injection pump.
- During each free acceleration cycle the engine shall reach the cut-off speed or the speed specified by the manufacturer before the throttle is released.
On the 18th September 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency USEPA, issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to Volkswagen AG, Audi AG and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. The notice of violation alleges that four cylinder Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars from model years 2009-2015 included software that circumvents USEPA emission standards for certain air pollutants.
There is now a need for the procedures and instruments to properly measure exhaust emissions during Periodic inspections to be updated and implemented in the light of today’s technology and capability of modern measurement devices.
In Europe, there is consideration of updating their Periodic inspections due to this problem. The reality is that Australia is already consistently several years behind EU standards as the European Directive adopted the Emission Standard Euro 5 in 2011 but Australia is only up to Euro 4.
If Australia is to achieve the Australian Government’s 2030 greenhouse gas emissions target of 26-28 per cent of 2005 levels, achieve the air quality objectives of the National Energy Productivity Plan objective of a 40 per cent improvement in energy productivity, then the Australian Government needs to implement more stringent standards for noxious air pollutant emissions and a standards regime for fuel efficiency (CO2).
While Australia’s air quality is considered good by international standards, our increasingly urbanised and aging population may be more susceptible to the health impacts of noxious emissions. This is particularly pertinent when considering that in 2012, 66% of Australians lived in a capital city and that combined population of our four largest cities is projected to increase by around 45% (5.8 million people) to 18.6 million by 2031”.
It is imperative the Australian Government strengthens its vehicle emissions standards and practices for all vehicles, this should encompass the following key points.
- That regular periodic inspections be mandated for all road vehicles, with attention being paid to NOx Cox and PM.
- The impending prospect of a 100% imported vehicle market be supported by local Type testing of vehicles
- High vehicle emission rates are often a result of component ageing, component failure, or generally poor maintenance. PTI emission tests allow authorities to check that in-service vehicles are well maintained and conform as far as possible to their design emission levels
- Improve Australia’s air quality and reduce growing health costs associated with noxious gasses.
- Provide a wide range of health outcomes including all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, cardiovascular morbidity, asthma and respiratory symptoms, lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, allergy and birth outcomes
- The adoption of Euro 6 standards should be immediate, all the available technologies are in current use, with the retreat of Australian manufacture, the readily available models of vehicles will be all higher technological standard.
Fuel standards are the obvious roadblock to implementation of Euro6, however the implementation of Euro6 vehicles with substandard fuel, would limit the available benefits, – lower fuel consumption, less toxic emissions.