Ricardo Debuts Real-world Vehicle Emissions Monitoring Service

In the wake of the Volkswagen emissions scandal, emissions are becoming more stringent across the world. This has led to the introduction of more “Low Emission Zones” and ‘Clean Air Zones’.

Ricardo Energy & Environment along with the company’s technology partner, OPUS Inspection has come up with an ingenious real-world emissions monitoring service that will help to identify which vehicle models that are passing by are the most polluting.

The service which will be installed at pre-determined locations of interest will instantaneously record in a non-intrusive manner, the real-world driving emissions of each passing vehicle and give the breakup of the individual toxic emissions including carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and ammonia.

This data will be handy for evaluating which category of vehicles can be held responsible for causing the highest levels of pollution and their share by percentage to the level of emissions whether it is buses, vans, cars or heavy goods vehicles.

Thus, real world data can be used to restrict the entry of the type of vehicles responsible for the highest levels of pollution into Clean Air Zones. The system can be also used to identify noncompliant vehicles and thus support enforcement management.

Sean Christiansen, Ricardo Energy & Environment air quality practice director said that Ricardo’s new vehicle emission measurement service is a major step forward when it comes to the measurement of real-world vehicle emissions in the UK. It would help the company’s clients to improve the design, enforceability and overall effectiveness of Clean Air and Low Emissions Zones and will complement the extensive air quality capabilities that Ricardo offers. These range from support and advice on pollution control policies to pollution modelling and measurement, inventory design and compilation and the development of low emission strategies.