Effect of Tampering on On-Road and Off-Road Diesel Vehicle Emissions

Barouch Giechaskiel, Fabrizio Forloni, Massimo Carriero, Gianmarco Baldini, Paolo Castellano, Robin Vermeulen, Dimitrios Kontses, Pavlos Fragkiadoulakis, Zissis Samaras and Georgios Fontaras
Additional contact information
Barouch Giechaskiel: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, Italy
Fabrizio Forloni: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, Italy
Massimo Carriero: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, Italy
Gianmarco Baldini: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, Italy
Paolo Castellano: Dimsport, 15020 Serralunga di Crea, Italy
Robin Vermeulen: TNO, 2595 Hague, The Netherlands
Dimitrios Kontses: Laboratory of Applied Thermodynamics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Pavlos Fragkiadoulakis: Laboratory of Applied Thermodynamics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Zissis Samaras: Laboratory of Applied Thermodynamics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Georgios Fontaras: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: Illegal manipulation (i.e., tampering) of vehicles is a severe problem because vehicle emissions increase orders of magnitude and significantly impact the environment and human health. This study measured the emissions before and after representative approaches of tampering of two Euro 6 Diesel light-duty passenger cars, two Euro VI Diesel heavy-duty trucks, and a Stage IV Diesel non-road mobile machinery (NRMM) agricultural tractor. With tampering of the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) for NO x , the NO x emissions increased by more than one order of magnitude exceeding 1000 mg/km (or mg/kWh) for all vehicles, reaching older Euro or even pre-Euro levels. The tampering of the NO x sensor resulted in relatively low NO x increases, but significant ammonia (NH 3 ) slip. The particle number emissions increased three to four orders of magnitude, reaching 6–10 × 10 12 #/km for the passenger car (one order of magnitude higher than the current regulation limit). The tampered passenger car’s NO x and particle number emissions were one order of magnitude higher even compared to the emissions during a regeneration event. This study confirmed that (i) tampering with the help of an expert technician is still possible, even for vehicles complying with the current Euro standards, although this is not allowed by the regulation; (ii) tampering results in extreme increases in emissions.

Keywords: tampering; high emitters; emulator; ECU flashing; tuner; NO x emissions; DPF removal; NO x sensor; SCR; diesel exhaust fluid (DEF); urea (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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