Two-month emission test campaign in Gothenburg, Sweden
Diesel scam results in emission checks.
Laboratory measurements are one thing, but only tests in real-world traffic will tell us how much pollution different vehicles emit. The technology is known as remote sensing and has been used for many years in several American states. An instrument at the side of the road measures and analyses exhaust emissions from passing vehicles while also photographing their license plates. This provides information as to whether specific vehicles are meeting current requirements or must be called in for inspections and action. The collated readings also reveal if certain marques or models regularly deviate from their official emission values.
Diesel scam exposed
Among other things, it was thanks to these measurements that Volkswagen and several other car manufacturers were exposed as using software to manipulate emission values. Now Europe has also begun to wake up to remote sensing, and a two-month emission test campaign was begun in Gothenburg in connection with the 1st European on-road emission remote sensing workshop.
Emissions tests in Gothenburg and Zürich
The tests will be carried out by the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute with the aim of checking the emissions from 30,000 vehicles. A similar project covering 70,000 checks was carried out in Zürich. Both projects used remote sensing equipment from Opus Inspection/Envirotest.
“This equipment will allow us to follow up what emissions levels actually are in real life,” says Åke Sjödin at IVL. “Above all, it will be interesting to see how the modified Volkswagens perform.”
Åke Sjödin at a local radio interview about the emissions tests.
IVL has been testing emissions in real-world traffic for 25 years and has been using Envirotest equipment since the very beginning. Along with other researchers from around the world, IVL is looking at how the automotive industry is dealing with the emissions deception and checking that the technical measures mandated on Volkswagen in particular actually lead to reduced emissions in traffic.
Calibration across the Atlantic
We were actually Envirotest’s first customer for this kind of measuring equipment,” says Åke Sjödin. “A couple of years ago I heard that the firm had been acquired by a Swedish company, and when I checked later it proved to be Opus right here in the neighborhood. It’s a small world!”
When we visited one of the measuring points in Gothenburg, the equipment was being calibrated before readings were taken, which is done during rush hour. The calibration is carried out remotely by Envirotest’s technicians in the USA, which meant they had a really early start that day thanks to the time difference.
About IVL
IVL was founded in 1966 as a public-private enterprise and was Sweden’s first environmental research Institute. These days it is a public limited company owned by the Foundation for IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.
IVL works with applied research and consultancy assignments with the aim of achieving a sustainable society. Based in Sweden and Europe, R&D activities are also pursued in other parts of the world, in particular China and India.