Although the European Union planned to apply the new Euro 7 standards from 2026, increasing pressure from manufacturers forced the EU to postpone this decision until the end of the decade. This meant easing the existing Euro 6 norm, but also giving more time for adaptation. Now the European Parliament says that Euro 7 will apply to electric cars as well.
Europe is trying to eliminate ICE cars from its roads at all costs, and one of the steps is to ban the sale of ICE vehicles from 2035. For now, it seems almost impossible, but the European Parliament has established interim measures to continue reducing CO2 emissions.
If you’re wondering what kind of harmful emissions electric cars produce, here’s the answer. With the new regulation, the measurements will not only take into account the emissions from the exhaust pipes, but also the emissions of other particles that are also harmful to health, such as microplastics or microdust that is thrown out by the wear of tires or brakes. This measure will apply to all cars, regardless of their powertrain.
Euro 7 regulations will apply from 2030, and many analysts are convinced that they will not give the expected result. However, all manufacturers must adapt to the new emissions limit, and the WLTP protocol measures the pollution data of every new car in the European Union (CO2 and NOx particles). Any deviation from the legal regulations entails a penalty for each additional gram of CO2. This has already started to show certain consequences, and an example is the Honda Civic Type R with a price of more than 100,000 euros.
Of course, some electric car manufacturers are not happy with this decision, so the EU has proposed special measures that mainly relate to battery life. This means an additional investment of huge amounts of money in development, which will be a great financial pressure on European manufacturers who are currently struggling with competitors from China. Of course, all this will be paid by customers with higher car prices.
Source: Reuters