Australia: Heavy-duty: Emissions

Overview

 * Standard type: Conventional pollution emission limits
 * Regulating bodies: Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development
 * Current standard: Australian Design Rule 80/03 - Emission Control for Heavy Vehicles 2006 Amendment 2, 9 January 2013 (equivalent to Euro V, with acceptance of selected US and Japanese standards)
 * Future standards: The long term policy is to fully harmonize Australian regulations with UN ECE standards
 * Applicability: New vehicles including light omnibuses, heavy omnibuses, medium goods vehicles and heavy goods vehicles, with a GVM > 3.5 tonnes

History
The Australian Design Rules (ADRs) are national standards for vehicle safety, anti-theft, and emissions. The ADRs are based on performance and cover issues such as rider protection, structures, lighting, noise, engine exhaust emissions, braking, and a range of miscellaneous items. The current standards, the Third Edition ADRs, are administered by the Australian Government under the Motor Vehicle Standards Act 1989.

Key dates in the emissions regulatory framework:


 * 1976 - A smoke emission requirement (ADR30/00) was introduced in 1976 for vehicles with 4 or more wheels powered by a diesel engine. The alternative smoke standards were US EPA &#8217;74 or later or British standards “Performance of Diesel Engines for Road Vehicles” BS AU 141a:1971 or ECE R 24/00, 24/01, 24/02 or 24/03 “Diesel and Pollutants” or, in the case of an engine alone, ECE R 24/03.
 * 1995 - 1996 - The first emission standards (apart from smoke standards) for heavy diesel fueled vehicles became effective in 1995 for all new models and in 1996 for all existing models. These emission standards were introduced via ADR 70/00 (adopting ECE R49, US &amp; Japanese HDV standards). The mandatory requirements of the 1995/96 standards were parallel with Euro 1 for both light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles. Euro II and III were also accepted though not included in the regulation. Acceptable alternatives to Euro I were: US EPA &#8217;91 or &#8217;94 (EPA &#8217;98 was also accepted though not included in the regulation); 1993 Japanese exhaust emission standards for “light duty and medium duty vehicles” and 1994 Japanese exhaust emission standards for “passenger cars and heavy duty vehicles”.
 * 2002 - 2003 - A second round of more stringent emission standards applied from 2002/2003 model year (for new/existing models). The standards—initially equivalent to Euro 2/3—have been gradually tightened to adopt Euro V for heavy-duty diesel engines.
 * 2006 - ADR 80 replaced ADR 70/00. The introduction of Euro III and Euro IV standards for medium- and heavy-duty diesel vehicles is via ADR80/00 and ADR80/01, respectively, which adopt the technical requirements of European Directive 99/96/EC amending Directive 88/77/EEC.
 * 2007 - ADR80/01 was replaced by ADR80/02 effective August 2007. The introduction of Euro IV and Euro V standards for medium- and heavy-duty diesel vehicles is via ADR80/02 and ADR80/03, respectively, which adopt the technical requirements of Directive 2005/55/EC as amended by 2005/78/EC and 2006/51/EC.

A discussion paper was released for public comment on 25 October 2012 to consider the merits of adopting more stringent (Euro VI) air pollutant emission standards for heavy vehicles in Australia.

Emission Standards
The emission standards were introduced via a series of new ADRs — (ADR80/00, ADR80/01, ADR80/02, and ADR80/03) — which apply to heavy-duty vehicles above 3.5 t Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM). These ADRs replaced ADR70/00. These ADRs apply to new vehicles fueled with petrol, diesel, as well as with LPG or natural gas. The requirements and the implementation schedules are summarized below (the requirements and dates for heavy LPG and NG vehicles are the same as for diesel).

Other Provisions
Smoke Limits

A smoke emissions ADR 30/01 also applies to all categories of diesel vehicles. The smoke standard, which applies from 2002/3, adopts UN ECE R24 and allows the US 94 smoke standards as an alternative. This new ADR replaces ADR30/00.

OBD

ADR80/02 requires heavy-duty vehicles to have OBD systems meeting the Euro 4 (or Japanese) requirements to warn against “functional failures” (such as an empty urea tank in engines with SCR). ADR80/03 requires vehicles to have OBD systems meeting the Euro 5 requirements to directly monitor emission levels against set OBD thresholds.

Diesel Fuel

The new emission requirements were synchronized with new diesel fuel specifications of reduced sulfur content, as follows:
 * 500 ppm sulfur effective 31 December 2002
 * 50 ppm sulfur effective 1 January 2006
 * 10 ppm sulfur effective 1 January 2009

Regulatory documents
ADR 80/03 - Emission Control for Heavy Vehicles 2006 Amendment 2, 9 January 2013

ADR 30/01 - Smoke Emission Control for Diesel Vehicles, 21 March 2006

Regulatory agencies

Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development