EUROPE'S DUST BUSTER

The pending Euro 7 vehicle-emissions regulations include a significant new sustainability wrinkle: first-ever restrictions for PM emissions from brakes.

In a proposal submitted in November of 2022, the European Commission detailed its new Euro 7 vehicle emissions standard, which is widely expected to be approved by the European Parliament and Council and begin phase-in starting on July 1, 2025. Another phase of emissions legislation is nothing new, but one critical element of Euro 7 is new to the regulation chessboard: first-ever limits on how much particulate matter (PM) can be generated by a vehicle's brakes.

This element of Euro 7 has auto and commercial-vehicle brake-component suppliers scurrying. Commercial vehicles are subject to their own compliance levels as they interpret how the new regulations will impact their existing technologies and what new solutions will be required. The proposed Euro 7 regulations also address the emissions of fine microplastic particles created by tire friction on the road. As of late Spring 2023, however, the EC had yet to assign permissible values for tire particulates.