EU Have Your Say: Heavy-Duty Vehicle CO₂ Certification and Verification

At EVM UK & Ireland we keep an eye on regulation so operators don’t have to. Here’s what this one consultation regarding the Heavy-Duty Vehicle CO₂ Certification and Verification means for you.

The European Commission has published a proposal for amending Regulation (EU) 2017/2400 (VECTO) concerning the determination of CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption of medium and heavy lorries and heavy buses.

What’s changing?

Every new heavy bus and coach sold in the EU has its CO₂ emissions and energy use worked out by an EU simulation tool called VECTO. The results feed the CO₂ targets manufacturers must meet and, in some countries, road toll charges.

The Commission says the rules haven’t been applied the same way in every country. Its draft (amending Regulation (EU) 2017/2400) aims to level the playing field in four areas:

• How some buses are classified. Single-deck buses that aren’t low-floor but are approved for standing passengers (Class I, I+II or A) will be placed in one defined vehicle group. Coaches (Class III) aren’t affected.
• Who carries out checks. For heavy buses built in stages, on-road verification testing falls to the chassis or base-vehicle manufacturer.
• Electric bus testing. Test methods for electric motors, drive units and batteries are clarified. Manufacturers can declare more data on how motors perform when braking and regenerating.
• Air-drag testing. Track test procedures are tightened up so results are more consistent.

There’s also less paperwork: some repeated vehicle data is dropped and certificate numbering is standardised.

What does it mean for operators?

For most operators, very little will change for day to day operations:

• No new targets and no price changes from this rule itself. It only refines how existing CO₂ figures are calculated.
• More consistent CO₂ figures. When you compare models, the published VECTO figures should be calculated the same way whichever country certified them.
• A fairer showing for electric buses. Better modelling of motor and battery performance should reflect what electric vehicles actually do in service.
• No new obligations on you. The duties sit with manufacturers and approval authorities.